Eternal Promises
by Eden888
Summary: It's now been two years after the war, with no sign of Heero. When Relena is kidnapped by a strange man, Heero is forced to join her life once more.
1. Part 1 - updated Nov 28 2012

Disclaimer: I claim absolutely no ownership of Gundam Wing, or its associated characters. This story has been written for entertainment purposes only, and no money has been made from its conception. I only claim ownership of any new characters that I may throw in.

**Eternal Promises**

**Part 1**

It was a beautiful morning in the Sanc kingdom. The sun was shinning brightly, melting away the last remnants of the snow, and chasing away the chill that was left in the air.

Vice foreign minister Darlian could see the cloudless sky through the window behind the speaking dignitary. He had been sent to inform the counsel of changes in the colonies. While she listened, only half interested in what was being said, Relena continued to look out the window and let her mind wander.

She imagined all the things that she could be doing if she wasn't in meetings all day, and somehow it didn't make her feel any better about where she was. To be inside in such a beautiful day seemed cruel punishment. But she forced her mind back to the matters at hand, and continued to listen to the discussions going on around her.

Ever since the Eve war, there hadn't been many major problems keeping the peace between earth and the colonies. The Preventers had been able to disarm any minor threats before they had become anything larger to worry about. They had largely succeeded in destroying all military mobile suits, and found that most Earth nations and colonies were in favor of complete demilitarization to preserve the peace they had fought to protect. But of course, there would always be those who refused to give up their violent ideals.

Relena found herself constantly working along side the Preventers in many of these instances to try and resolve the problems through peace talks and negations, before other drastic measures needed to be taken. With these negotiations on top of general concerns that dignitary's from various nations and colonies had, she was kept extremely busy, with very little time to call her own.

As she had been reflecting on these things, the dignitary had stopped talking and had opened the floor for discussion and questions. After a time, all the important questions were asked, all the things that needed to be said were, and everyone in the room came to a general understanding about the current state of affairs.

Finally, after the good-byes from all the dignitaries, Relena made her way outside. She was able to take advantage of the short time she had now to feel how good the warm sun felt on her face, and reflect on the wonders it was able to accomplish in rejuvenating her soul. A smile came to her lips as she stood outside on the sidewalk waiting for her car amongst a crowd of laughing bustling people. It made her happy to think about how her work helped to keep the peace so that people both in space and on earth were able to enjoy simple things such as this without need to worry about impending war breaking out again.

Even as she thought about it, she felt a small frown come across her lips. She was always happy being able to help nations come to peaceful understandings with one another; and found her work fulfilling, but Relena constantly felt the need for something more. This need came whenever she was by herself, like now, and then as soon as people surrounded her again, the feeling seemed to dull.

Maybe she needed a dog.

She felt her expression settle into an easy smile again as she watched a silver limousine pull around to let her in. Taking another last look around the busy street, she entered the limo. It had only been a fleeting thought, but for some reason she'd had the strangest sensation that someone had been watching her. Not that it was strange for people to be looking at her, they usually did with varying degrees of intensity, but this had felt like whoever was watching her had mal intent.

It was slightly unnerving to feel as thought your being watched, but not to know where the person is watching from seemed to feel worse.

Relena shivered a little, climbing into the car. Fortunately, she was distracted immediately by her assistant, who was waiting with a new schedule, papers and briefings for the remainder of the day's business. It was easy to bury her uneasiness in her work. She had been doing it for the last two years.

Going through proposals for trade agreements and vid conferences with colony representatives easily took the rest of the morning and the afternoon was spent in another meeting with representatives from the Earth Sphere Unified Nation.

It wasn't until late that night when she finally got home and was alone in her room that Relena even had a chance to think. The day had been busy, like they all were now. Full of listening to problems from other nations and trying to help them come to a conscience within themselves. She was usually so wrapped up in the problems of nations around the earth sphere, that she didn't often have any time to think about things that might be bothering her.

On most nights she was so tired that by the time she made it to her room she didn't want to do anything but go to sleep. Tonight though, Relena felt strangely awake, and sleep eluded her. She put on her pajamas, and grabbed a thick robe from her closet before opening her balcony doors and stepping outside.

The nights out in the country on the Peacecraft family estate were cooler in the early spring than in the city, so as she made her way over to the railing, she pulled the robe tightly around herself. She rested her hands on the rail and raised her face to the sky, looking up to behold the sea of stars above her.

Relena's mind began to wander as she looked up at the winking pin pricks of light. It had been two years since their had been any war on the earth or in the colonies. Two years of hard negotiations, and difficult new policies to approve. The memories of war were still fresh in everyone's mind, and no one, except for the odd rebellious group, made any move to take up arms and attempt to dissolve what they had fought so hard to achieve.

Relena's eyes moved to gaze at the moon. Two years ago had been the last time she had seen him.

It was so easy to call up an image in her mind, even after all this time.

The unruly dark hair and amazing blue eyes that framed his constantly severe expression.

He had rescued her from Mariemaia, and passed out in her arms shortly after. The last time she had seen him had been when she had waited by his bed in the hospital. He had looked so peaceful, lying in the sterile, stiff bed. Relena had never seen him look that way before.

Her mind brought her back to that day. She had only left for a minute, just to the hallway coffee machine, but before she left she had squeezed his hand to reassure herself, even if he was sleeping, that she would come back to him.

The strangest and most surprising thing happened then. Relena could've sworn that he returned the pressure to her hand. Shocked, she had looked down at his face, the normally somber facial expression was surprisingly relaxed, and his eye lids hid what Relena know were startling Prussian blue eyes.

Not a move. He hadn't made a move. Perhaps she had imagined it. She had stood there longer then she had intended, just watching him, but he made no more movements.

When she came back from the coffee machine, a steaming cup in her hands, an empty bed greeted her. He was no longer in it.

At first Relena had stood there in the doorway, dumbfounded. Then all of a sudden she had snapped to life, rushing out of the empty room to the nurses' station. After taking a moment to quickly explain the situation she learned that hey hadn't taken him anywhere, and an announcement was put over the intercom.

It was too late though. Relena knew it as soon as she made it back to the room. She hadn't noticed the most obvious fact the first time she'd been the room, she had been too focused on the empty bed. When she came back she saw it plain as day. The window stood wide open, the curtains billowing in the wind.

His clothes, a pair of blue jeans, a green tank top and a black jacket, were gone as well.

Relena rushed to the window and leaned as far out as she could without falling. She scanned the ground down below. They were only three floors up, so she hadn't been overly worried about him getting hurt. He was a survivor, and no matter what the odds, he'd never had a problem getting out of impossible situations in one piece. All that she had wanted was to catch a glimpse of him, anything to show he was all right.

She thought she saw something familiar in the distance, off by the road, a tousled brown head walking away from her. Without a second thought she had cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted out at him, trying to get his attention.

It was an impulsive thing to do, and she really hadn't been surprised when the figure in the distance hadn't turned around. Heero had always been strong, and this had been another demonstration of that fact.

That was the last time Relena had seen him. Just a glimpse of a shadowy figure walking away from her, not even turning around for a second of contemplation.

She'd envied his resolve, and strength.

Relena had gone on with her life as part of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, never knowing what had truly happened to Heero after that day, where he had gone, or what he had done. He had walked out of her life as surely and as completely as anyone could.

She came back to the present then, and shook herself from her reminiscing. It had been a long time since she had thought of these things, and even now she wondered what exactly had triggered the memories. It wasn't that she was prone to these bouts of nostalgia, but for some reason the night seemed right. With the crisp air, and the darkness, she felt very isolated in her old family home. She knew that downstairs her butler Pagen was sitting at the table in the kitchen having a last cup of tea while he read a book, and various other staff were around finishing up for the evening if they hadn't already retired for the night.

Even down below her balcony there should be a few night guards making the rounds of the grounds to ensure there were no trespassers. She had lost the battle about the guards with the former Lady Une, now Preventer Anne Une, who insisted that she needed the protection. Tonight Relena was grateful for the men or women who patrolled the grounds, needing to know the extra layer of protection was there, as well as the knowledge that she wasn't truly alone.

Thinking about Preventer Une sparked thoughts about other people who had played key parts in the past wars. She had on occasion had the chance to actually come across these people, and was glad to see that everyone was seeming to find a comfortable place in the new world.

Quatre Winner had taken over his family business, much to the relief of his sisters. He had been a huge supporter of the pacifism Relena promoted, staying true to his own father's beliefs. Relena had also had the pleasure to be involved in proposals for complete disarmament with him. She was proud to call him an ally of sorts, as well as a friend.

Chang Wufei, Sally Po and Lady Une were all still involved with the Preventers, an organization Relena worked very closely with to stop any little problem on earth or in the colonies before it became anything big. They had been very successful in stopping the minor uprisings from occurring while Relena had been dispatched to find the cause of the problems, and to diffuse them with negotiations.

One person that she had never worked with or had any contact with personally was the pilot they had called Trowa Barton. When she had spoken to Quatre, he had mentioned in passing that the secretive pilot had gone back to the circus where he had been hiding during the war, and was now a main performance with his sister Catherine. Relena had always wanted to see the duo, she was told they were truly amazing.

From what she could tell, Duo Maxwell had been making a killing up in the colonies with his company. He, along with another former soldier Relena had met once or twice during the Eve war, Hildi, were hired out to clean up space debris like space mines and parts from long destroyed mobile suits and space shuttles. The success was so well known that whenever Relena went to space she saw at least one or two billboards advertising Maxwell clean up. He was also starting to earn a reputation for reliable shuttle repair.

The only former Gundam pilot that Relena hadn't heard anything about was Heero Yuy. Not a word, glance or anything for two whole years. She supposed that the other pilots had probably heard from him, but Relena herself had not.

The thought made her sad on one level. She had spent so much time in those early months following him, learning about him, and in many ways she had become a stronger person because of him. To not hear from him or know how he was felt very lonely. Without her being aware of it, he had become more to her then just a boy she had met, or someone who had saved her, he had become a pillar of strength and security.

On the other hand, the more practical hand, she knew that he was fine, and that was enough for her. Even if he wasn't aware of it, he had done so much for her during the time that she had known him, that she couldn't ask anymore of him.

As she stood on the darkened balcony thinking, a slight wind had come up, and began to blow Relena's hair back from her forehead.

"Heero," She spoke the name aloud softly to no one but the moon. The guards who were stationed around the estate probably wouldn't be able to hear her, and even if they could, they wouldn't understand.

She didn't care anyways. All that she could think about was the boy she had grown to admire during the war, the boy with the wild brown hair, amazing Prussian blue eyes, and serious expression.

With a smile, Relena remembered the first time she had met him.

He had been lying on the beach, and Relena had mistaken him for dead. After she'd called an ambulance, she had taken off his helmet, and had been surprised to see that he was no older than she was.

When he had woken up, jumping to his feet and covering his face, she had been taken aback. It was not the sort of response that she had been expecting.

It was more then apparent that the boy had not expected to be where he was, and to say that she was intrigued by the sight of him and that she wanted to know how he happened to end up on this lonely stretch of sand in the middle of no where was putting it mildly.

Relena just watched in awe as he first tried to commit suicide in front of her. When that had failed, and the ambulance had arrived, he had knocked out the driver, and took off in it, the siren still wining as he disappeared down the road.

That day had been the beginning of her admiration in him, in his strength, and presents.

The next day at school when he had shown up in her classroom, introducing himself as Heero Yuy, Relena knew that she wanted to know him. She had even tried to invite him to her birthday party. To the shock of Relena and everyone else who had been a witness that day, Heero hadn't even looked at the invitation before ripping it in half. Then while she was still in shock, he spoke in low tones that only she could hear. The words that he spoke ended her innocent adolescence forever: "I will kill you."

She caught his eye for the briefest of moments before he had turned away from her and walked away. It hadn't just been the words themselves that had changed her, she realized now looking back, it was the cold look in those frozen eyes. He would do it. She knew it as clearly as she could know anything. He would kill her, and he wouldn't regret it or hesitate. The thought and realization had chilled her as nothing else could.

Arguably, it was that chilled thought that, while it had frightened her, had awoken something inside of her she hadn't even realized existed. A reckless part of her that wasn't her father's well behaved little girl, a part that wanted nothing more then to see what lengths a person like Heero would go to in order to actually kill her.

Relena wasn't a fool, she knew when she had found Heero on the beach that he was a soldier of some kind, and when he had turned up in her school she reasoned that he was undercover in some way. Perhaps knowing that had been enough reason for Heero to determine that she was a risk to have around, and the only course of action to keep his identity a secret was to eliminate her.

She had felt strangely important with that thought. To think that She knew something about Heero Yuy that was so secret he would kill her to keep it that way. The idea that her days might be numbered made her more reckless. If Heero wanted to kill her, why not give him a fair chance?

Maybe that's what crossed her mind on her birthday, and caused her to go after him, leaving behind all her friends at her own party. She had a fleeting thought that she couldn't let him do whatever it was he was planning. Relena feared that whatever it was, when he was finished he might leave and she wouldn't see him again.

So she left, and found him at the military port loading torpedos from the base's storage. He had seemed to ignore all her questions about what he was doing, but as soon as she stopped asking questions he turned around, his eyes softened for a moment and he spoke her name as he actually registered her presents.

For a split second she could see the glimmer of something vulnerable in his expression, like a sad acceptance of what he was inevitably going to do.

Relena felt herself relax, and a strange feeling of relief came over her when she tought that she might've gotten through to him finally. In the next moment she realized it had been a mistake to let her guard down, and to assume that he would stop what he had been about to do, and to think that he would suddenly stop seeing her as an enemy.

The moment he aimed the gun at her his eyes visibly hardened and a determined look spread over his face. Just like that moment at school when he had met her eyes so briefly and Relena had realized that causing her death would be easy for him, she realized that moment was upon her.

If she would've had more time to consider this circumstance, she might have decided that a death at the hands of the pilot Heero Yuy was an honorable way to die. She would have resolved to accept her fate without regrets. Fortunately, none of that had been nessary.

Everything happened very quickly. Relena heard the shot before she saw anything, and her first reaction was to duck down and cover her head with her hands. When she assessed that she hadn't been shot she raised her eyes and saw Heero sprawled on the ground, his good hand clutching the upper part of his other arm, blood already starting to run between his fingers. The gun had fallen from his hand when he had been shot. Another boy, this one all dressed in black, stood at the end of the pier, pointing his own gun towards Heero.

He said something then, explaining why he had shot Heero, but Relena hadn't been listening. She shot up and stood between the two young men.

"Stop!" She shouted at the boy in black, before he got anymore ideas. Her arms spread out to block the other boy from shooting again, "What did you have to shoot him for?"

The other boy was clearly confused, and tried to say so, but before he was able to finish, he took aim with his gun again and the echo of the gun going off rang in her ears.

Relena spun around in time to see Heero lunging for his gun as the bullet connected with his thigh.

He didn't make a sound as he layed sprawled on the ground, holding onto his injured arm, watching as the blood started flowing out of the bullet wound on his leg.

Acting as silently as Heero had, Relena dropped down onto her knees beside him, and began ripping strips of fabric from the hem of her dress that she used to bandage up his injures.

Both boys watched her in awe, the boy in black muttering under his breath the whole time about saving the guy who tried to kill her.

She had known then how crazy it all seemed. Relena knew that if he had half a chance, Heero would try to kill her again, but that thought didn't seem important. She wasn't afraid. As she felt the thoughts ripple across her own face, it was clear to see that for the second time that night she had succeeded in startling Heero, only she wasn't completely sure how.

It was plain that he was unsure of her now,seemed to be regarding her with a careful expression on his face, as though he was observing a starving lion. he was wary of her, unsure as to what she would do next. Relena had no illusions in this moment. She knew that if Heero tried again to kill her in the next minute she had no chance of saving herself, but she also knew that she wouldn't try and stop him.

Already she admired his strength, and found something inside of him that made her want to learn more about him. Perhaps it was the mystery behind him that drew her, or the fact that she knew something about him that no one else knew.

Whatever it was that drew her to him in that moment was the same thing that made it easier to understand him once she met Doctor J, and learned about his real reasons for being on the Earth.

Relena shivered a little bit inside of her robe as she remembered the day her foster father had been killed. She had thought that she would never feel safe again, that she would never be able to understand why this tragedy had happened. That was the same day she had met the Doctor who had sent Heero to Earth. He told her everything she had wanted to know about his true missions and more. At the time she had almost thought that she should've felt more wary of him because of what she knew, but she couldn't help the way she felt. It was as thought she became more determined to stay with him, no matter what happened.

When she went back to Earth, and back to school on the night of a class party, her full intentions had been to let Heero know that he didn't need to try and hide from her any more because she knew all about his mission. Relena had felt stronger than ever about being on the same side as he was, against OZ. It gave her a feeling of comradeship that he didn't necessarily feel, but it made her want to be stronger.

The night she returned to Earth and to the St. Gabriel Institute, the night of the class party, she had confronted Heero. She had felt a strange sort of comradery with the young assassin. She had left the Earth a child, and returned as someone else, someone who wasn't afraid to stand with Heero, no matter what his missions asked him to do.

It had always been difficult to explain to anyone that it wasn't a crush, it hadn't been about romance. It had been about right and wrong, and about doing the right thing, and about having the strength and the power to achieve what you set out to do. Heero had the both of them, and enough determination to crush the world if he wanted to. It was something that she wanted to be a part of, needed to be near to.

In the beginning it might have been a bit like a crush, as she tried to find out more about him, but that was no longer the case after her foster father had been assassinated. She admired him, and his strength. She wanted to find a way to be a stronger person and to deal with the problems that now faced her. She knew that she had to do that her own way, and Heero had to do it his.

It took her until she was nearly captured by OZ for an assassination attempt on the former OZ leader, Lady Une, to realize that she could find another way to accomplish her goals. That, and the heavy hand that Noin played in her life, guiding her into the intricate game of politics. At first she hadn't liked the path she was being led down, she had felt that it took her further from the things she wanted to accomplish, but the more she learned, the more she realized that she wasn't alone, and that there were many people who felt the same way about what was going on as she did, and as the Gundam pilots did.

Noin helped her finally learn about her Peacecraft heritage, and gave her the best tool she could have ever needed to help stop the mindless killing and the tyranny of the OZ organization.

She grew up. She stopped needing to follow Heero around. Just knowing that he was fighting to keep the peace the same as she was kept her going.

The fact that over time he had saved her life on numerous occasions told her more than he had ever said with words. It told her that he believed in what she was trying to do. He supported her.

Near the end of the Eve war, she had begun to feel something unlike anything she had ever felt for anyone before. It was as if she felt stronger, yet weaker every time she was near Heero. Their faces seemed to move close together whenever they spoke, and it seemed to Relena that he caught her eye more often, and that his words were softer, and more kind.

He had also stopped threatening to kill her.

A sigh escaped her lips, as she stood up straighter. Relena didn't know why she was thinking about these things now. It had been two years since she had seen or heard from Heero, and the chance that she would actually see him again seemed so small that it was almost easier to try and forget him entirely. But how are you supposed to forget someone who, without even knowing, shaped the way you had become? Again Relena sighed. It was getting late. The moon, that had been lower in the sky and dim before, was now a bright white glowing disc in the sky.

Relena looked up at the moon, up to space where Heero most likely was, "I hope your well." she whispered impulsively.

A shiver shook her body and she wrapped her robe around her tighter. She took one last look up at the sky, "Good night, Heero."

OoOoOo

A note to my readers:

If your reading this, then your one dedicated person, and I'd like to thank you for sticking with me. As you can see, I have not abandoned this fic, its merely been put on hold while I get some life stuff dealt with. I've been slowly working myself up to fixing some of what I think are the major problems with the early chapters, and I hope to improve the overall feel of the story.

I'm not about to make promises for dates when things will be done, as I have a few things on the go that are simply higher on my priority list, but this is defiantly something I plan to dedicate more time to in the near future.

Thank you again for reading, and I hope you liked the updated Part 1

Eden


	2. Part 2

Disclaimer:  I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the Gundam Characters, much to my dismay, and cannot take any credit for them.  Of course I do take credit for this story and all original characters of my own that I happen to throw in here.  Was that a good enough disclaimer?  I don't know, but we've wasted enough time here, on with the story!! _Eternal Promises_ By Eden Part 2 

Just one more adjustment, there!  Everything should work right now.

Heero could feel the fresh air being blown out of a vent as he packed up his equipment.  It had been two months since he had come to the mars colony.  He had no real reason to go to mars, except that he had been everywhere else.

He walked out of the environmental room, his equipment suitcase swinging from his hand.  He had only taken a couple of steps down the hallway when a voice called out behind him.

"Heero,"

He turned to look back down the hallway.  A man, with long platinum blond hair came striding up to him.

"How did repairs on the ventilation system go?"  He asked.

Heero closed his eyes in a slow blink.  "Fine, the problem was just in the configurations of the system, but once I recalibrated it everything started to work right."

The blond hared man nodded his head, "Good.  We were having a heck of a time with it before, and you come in and fix it in three hours."

"It's no big deal."  Heero wanted to leave.  The more he stood hear with this man the more he felt like he was going to break into what he thought would be meaningful conversation.

The older man narrowed his eyes a little before speaking again.  "Noin tells me you haven't been sleeping at night, that you get up and go back to work."

Heero glared at the man.  "I wasn't aware that you were the type to keep tabs on a person, Zecks."

"Neither of us are."  He answered, "But she's worried about you working yourself too hard.  You've done so much to help us since you've been hear that she really doesn't want anything to happen to you."  Zecks crossed his arms across his chest.

 "Well tell her not to worry.  I just can't sleep at night so I work.  There's no use laying around doing nothing when there's work that needs to get done."

Zecks lowered his eyes "Do you have nightmares?"  He asked.  His voice was low.

Heero didn't say anything.  He had never been big on confiding in anyone.  He had never had any problems before that had required it.  Of course, even now it didn't seem like it was necessary for him to say anything, Zecks seemed to have his problems pegged.

When he didn't answer, Zecks must've realized that he was right.

"Don't shut yourself away from people Heero, they will only get worse."

Turning away abruptly he spoke to Zecks.  "No one asked either of you to worry about me.  I can take care of myself, I always have."

From behind he heard Zecks responding.  "No matter what you think, there are people who care what happens to you."

Heero didn't respond he just kept walking down the hallway.

"Oh, and another thing before you go.  Noin wanted to invite you to dinner tonight.  She said to come around six o'clock.  Are you going to come?"

Stopping and turning back around, Heero looked at the man, his arms still crossed across his chest, waiting for his answer.

"Tell her that I'll come."  He had continued walking down the hallway, away from Zecks.

 When he turned a corner, and was out of sight of Zecks, he leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes.  Maybe Zecks and Noin were right.  He was working a lot lately and hadn't been getting much sleep.  A person couldn't do what he had been doing forever.

Not forever, he thought contradicting himself, just until he couldn't survive without sleeping anymore, and could sleep a whole night without waking up.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and got off of the wall.  It was time for him to go back to work.  He still had a lot of things to get done before tonight.

Heero kept himself so busy for the rest of the day that he nearly lost track of time.  About an hour and a half before he was supposed to go for dinner with Zecks and Noin, he went back to his room so that he would have time to change and take a shower.

Tiredly, he took off his overalls, that were standard issue for anyone working maintenance on the Mars colony, and turned on the shower.

As he let the water come down warm against his face, he thought about what Zecks had said earlier.  He had said that people cared about what happened to him.

Heero ran his hands back through his hair, smoothing the wet hair against his head.  What people?  Who really cared about what happened to him now?  The other Gundam pilots?  They cared about an old comrade, someone who had fought beside them during the war.  Other soldiers?  They cared about the boy who had had exceptional fighting abilities, and as they would care about anyone who ended up being a war hero.  The colonies?  They didn't care about war heroes or Gundams anymore now that the wars were finally over.  Zecks and Noin?  He scoffed at the thought.  The only reason that they cared about him was because they didn't want to be the one's who sat by and did nothing if something were to actually happen to him.

Soap bubbles clung to his hair as he washed away any physical remnants of the day.  He had long ago come to the conclusion that there was no permanent place in the peace-filled world for a soldier who had only known fighting.

It was true, wasn't it?  When he had been no more than ten years old Odin Lowe had taken him, trained him to use a gun, and then took him out when he had been required to go on missions.  When you have blood on your hands at that young an age you're damned for life.

Heero had resolved himself to this fact a long time ago, some time after the Mariemaia crises.  He had decided to go to school like others his age, but after the first year, had realized how pointless it was.

He would never be a normal person who could go about life not caring about what was going on to keep them ignorant of world problems.  He would always be looking around for suspicious things or people, and would never be able to allow himself a real life.

Wretchedly, Heero thought, he would always be alone.

It had been that way ever since Odin had been killed.  He had survived on his own, moving from colony to colony until doctor J had recruited him to train for operation meteor.

Doctor J, no matter what anyone had thought had been nothing more than an instructor and employer.  Never had they shared any kind feelings, except for respect and understanding.

Respect of each other's skills, and understanding of what was required out of both of them for the operation to work.

Everyone had believed that the weapons that had been sent to Earth had been the Gundams, with superior technology and strength.  This was true to a point, but as Doctor J had told Heero not long before he left on his mission, the suit was merely to means to complete the mission.  He himself was the real weapon.

He himself, Heero Yuy, who had been trained since as far back as he could remember to be nothing less than the perfect soldier.

Yes, he thought as he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, that was what he was.  The only problem that now remained was what to do with the perfect soldier after the war is over and there are no more battles to be fought?

The towel was rough against his skin as he rubbed to get the last traces of moisture from his body.  As Heero recalled it, there had been only one person who had been interested in him for anything other than his fighting ability – no.  Don't think about her now.

His hands came down flat against the counter, holding himself up as he glanced at his blurry reflection in the condensation covered mirror. It was too late.  Once the images of her started, he couldn't stop himself from seeing her.

As his eyes closed, the image of her that he most remembered came into his head.  It was a picture of her so very long ago, at the beginning of the war, after her father had been assinated.  She had come to his room at the private school they both attended, and even though Heero had pulled a gun on her, as well as threatened to kill her numerous times before, she stood there in his doorway and curtsied.

She wasn't afraid of him shooting her.  She knew that he wouldn't do it right before leaving the school.  She knew about the missions, but the thing that came as the most shock was that she had met Doctor J, and he had told her about his mission.

There she stood in front of him, her hands gracefully holding out the skirt of her school uniform, her ankle crossed behind her foot, and her head down with her eyes closed.  She had made herself look as though she was allowing him to take her life into her hands.

She had looked so beautiful then, with her honey colored hair streaming off her shoulders, and her skin, even more golden in the light.

Heero had stood there for what seemed like an eternity, staring at her with his hand still pointing the gun towards her.  Suddenly, as if the gun was too heavy to hold up any longer, his arm dropped.

That was all that it had taken to break the spell.  The honey colored head rose, and the ankles uncrossed.  Then when those violet eyes looked up at him, and had told him he might as well enjoy the party, he was lost again.

He had found himself following her downstairs to the main dancing hall, and then was surprised when he found himself holding her in his arms as they spun around the room.  It was such an odd thing for him, a Gundam pilot and a trained assassin, to be doing.  It felt like a dream, to have her pale, slender fingers resting in his hard and calloused hand.

The moment itself seemed to last an eternity, until it was unceremoniously shattered by the sound of approaching mobile suit carriers.

Heero had rushed out to the zero-one just as the carriers had begun to release their cargos of Aries mobile suits.  While he had been confused as to the reason they would attack a school, he just figured that they found where he was hiding.

Of course, once he started attacking the Aries suits, he saw how wrong he was.  They were more surprised to see him then he was to see them.  They were attaching for some other reason, but what could OZ want with a school?

It didn't take him long to figure out what they were after.

She had come running outside like all of the other students, only instead of screaming and running away from the fighting and explosions, she just stood there as he fought.

After slicing another Aries suit in half with his beam saber, he found himself looking down at her, standing by the school.  Her honey colored hair blew out behind her head. 

"Relena,"

It was perfect.  He could kill her now, finish her off and then leave this place without a glance back.  She was just standing there, watching him, and as he watched, she said his name.

"Heero,"

Just then from behind him another Aries suit came and began to shoot at his back.  One of the shots missed and hit the school building.  The stone wall began to fall down towards where Relena was standing.  Her hands came up to cover her head.  Before he knew what he was doing, Heero had begun to lung forward, his shield arm reaching in front of him.

His eyes closed as he braced himself for the impact of the suit falling to it's knees, and for the building to stop falling.

Slowly, once the shock of the explosions and the falling had shaken the suit, he opened his eyes and looked out his view screen.  As the dust cleared, he saw her there sprawled out on the ground underneath his shield arm.  He had saved her.

What had he been thinking?  He would've been better off if she died, wouldn't he?

Just then, as if to bring him out of his daze, the Aries suit that had shot at him before now came back up behind him again.  This time it was closer, and the shots from it's beam cannon shook the zero-one.  Heero barely noticed.

A couple more shots, and he could hear Relena calling up to him again.

"Heero!  Is that you?"

What was wrong with him?  He couldn't kill her.  What was wrong with him!

With all the frustration he felt with himself, Heero had turned his suit around, again bringing up the shield arm.  This time though he swung it around and jabbed it right into the Aries cockpit, destroying the enemy suit.

He didn't do anything for a long moment.  All he did was stand there in his Gundam and stair across the fields of trees.  Finally, when he did move to pick up his discarded beam cannon, he looked over and heard Relena calling up to him again.

"That's you in there, isn't it?  Answer me!"

He couldn't bring himself to look at her image on his view screen.

"Tell me why you rescued me!"

He didn't know why he had saved her, the girl knew too much about him.

"You didn't kill me!  You said you were gonna.  Answer me, Heero!"

When he began to walk towards her, she gasped.  Each step he took brought him closer to her, until finally he was standing right in front of him, but she just stood there.

Even when he brought his shield arm up, and rammed it into the rubble just beside her, Relena did not move.  She just stood there, staring up at him with those eyes.  Those violet eyes of hers had pierced his soul while they had been dancing, and while she spoke to him.

"I know how you feel, because I'm in your side now."

As he sat there staring down into those violet eyes staring up at the mobile suit, he searched himself for a reason why he couldn't kill her.

He had figured it out though in those last few minutes before he'd flown off, leaving her behind at the St. Gabriel Instute, but he hadn't been able to express it in anyway to himself until months later.

She was like him, and not because she was a trained assain like he was, no.  It was more like an inner feeling that he had about her.  That she was the light while he was the dark.

Later on her was how true this was, as she became the leader of the Sanc Kingdome, and then Queen of the world.  Even when her position was being undermined by those who only had dark intentions of controlling the world and the colonies; Relena could somehow find a way to rally the people to her.  It was much the same thing that the presents of the Gundams was able to do.

Her ideals for peace, no matter how unrealistic, appealed to the people's wishes.  That's what made her the perfect person to serve as the bridge between Earth and the colonies, and to make everyone happy.

Heero sat down on his bed and pulled on his socks.  He had tried for so long to block out the memories of Relena, to try and get through a day without her face popping into his mind.  He couldn't believe that with one sentence from Zecks, he had managed to break down all the walls around those memories that he'd worked so hard to create.

Suddenly frustrated, he lowered his forehead into his hands.  He couldn't believe that he was feeling like this!  The reason why he had avoided Earth, and the other pilots for all this time was because of this reason.  They all reminded him of Relena.  

He avoided the thought of Relena because he was too unsure about the way he felt towards her, too confused about his feelings.

Reaching for the shirt that hung on his closet, he scowled.  Maybe it had been a mistake to come hear.  Somehow he had let his guard down, and come to the Mars colony even though he had known in his mind that Zecks and Noin would both be hear.  They had been hear since the end of the Mariemaia crisis, and would probably be hear until they both missed Earth too much to stay away any longer.

The reason why it had been a mistake to come to Mars and see Zecks and Noin, wasn't because there was any standing rivalry between Zecks and himself, rather it was the opposite.  Zecks and Heero had one thing in common that had kept them on speaking terms while thy still fought against each other.

They were both fighting to protect Relena.

Heero inspected himself in the mirror.  His shirt and pants were neat and pressed, and his dark brown hair was just as unruly as ever, despite just being washed.  All in all he looked good enough to go to Zecks and Noin's place for dinner.

He hadn't accepted the invitation for dinner because of obligation or because he needed to be around people.  The only reason why he was going was because Noin always had a way of knowing the new cases that the Preventers were working on, and could tell him about any new threats by rebellious groups.  

During the last half a year, Heero had begun to feel uneasy about the peace that had spread across space and the Earth.  Almost as if a tension had been growing somewhere.

Taking a deep breath, Heero rang the door chime.  A pleasant sounding female voice came from the speaker near the door.

"Come on in, Heero."

He pressed the door button, and the door slid open with a little hiss.  As he stepped inside he observed the warm colored paint of the walls, and the pleasant smells wafting through the air. 

Noin was just putting a bowl of steaming vegetables on the table.  She looked the same as she had during the war, the same lean build, the same dark violet eyes and soft smile.  The only thing that had changed about her was that she had let her platinum black hair grow until it now curled at her shoulders.

She turned around as the door closed.  "Your just in time, Heero.  Hear, why don't you put out the forks and knives." She handed him a handful of cutlery

He accepted it, and began to lay it down beside the plates.  "Thanks for inviting me to dinner."

Noin had gone back into the kitchen and was scooping mashed potato's into another bowl.  "It's not necessary to thank me, Heero.  It's our pleasure to have you over." She came back to the table and placed to bowl down. "Besides," She added teasingly, "You look like you could use a good meal."  She poked him in the ribs.

Heero gave the woman a small smile, "So I was right.  The invitation was concocted to get me to come over so that you could look out for me."

She didn't say anything, but her silence was enough for Heero to know that he was right on the mark.

"So you've been keeping tabs on me then.  Why?"  He bent his head down a little and stared at the table.

When she came back towards him a moment later he expected an apology, and then an explanation, but he received neither.  Instead, what ended up happening was nothing he's expected.

The warm had come down to rest on his shoulder first, and then Lucrezia bent her head closer to Heero's.

"Who needs to keep tabs on you?  The whole maintence staff knows what you've been doing.  Actually, they're the ones who approached me and told me, because they figured since I knew you I might be able to help."

Heero had never known Miss Noin all that well, even during the war, everything had been business.  Of course, when he'd come to mars, he had spent more time with both Zecks and Noin, and had actually gotten to know both of them better.

Actually, up until a couple of weeks ago, he'd say that they could even be considered friends.  If it wasn't for those damnable dreams he kept having, no.  Best not to think of that now.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Noin still looking at him.  Maybe she was expecting something from him, a reaction maybe?

A sigh escaped from him.  Being here with Noin was enough to make him feel sorry for the things that he'd thought about her and Zecks earlier.  The look on her face told him that she really was worried about him, and it pained him that he wasn't gong to tell her what the problem was.

"So," Noin asked, prompting him after his long silence. "Why don't you let me help you, Heero?  Sometimes it can help if you have someone to talk to."  

He shook his head.  No, he wasn't ready to have any confidences about this right now.  Maybe after he figured out a few things for himself he'd tell her, but not yet.

She nodded.  "If you change your mind, you know where to find me."  She gave his shoulder a little squeeze, and then smiled.  "Zecks should be hear soon, and I'm not even finished putting the food on the table!"

Dropping her hand she went back into the kitchen, leaving Heero gripping the back of a chair, thinking about the dreams.

He didn't want to.  They kept him from sleeping at night, and make him tense and irritable.  Fortunately, he felt saved from himself when he heard the door slide open, and Noin calling a greeting.

"I'm in the kitchen!  Dinner's ready, I just have to-" she broke off suddenly.

A male voice came from the kitchen.  "Where's Heero?  Is he here yet?"

There was something wrong with the way Zecks was talking.  His voice seemed clipped, the words didn't sound right.

Noin had already noticed this in the kitchen, and was trying her best to find out what had happened.  "He's by the table, but Zecks, what's going on?"

Before she had gotten an answer out of him, he strode out of the kitchen, towards the table where Heero was standing.

There was something in his face that told Heero whatever it was, the news wasn't gong to be good.  Zecks had his jaw set tightly, his nail blue eyes had darkened and narrowed to the way that Heero remembered from the days of the war.  Not good, defiantly not good.

"Heero," Zecks started, "Noin, something's happened.  Relena was kidnapped from the Peacecraft mansion.  It happened last night sometime, and it was after she had gone upstairs to go to sleep.  They don't know who did it yet and what they want."

Shock, complete and utter shock went through Heero's body as Zecks word sunk in.  Relena.

The images of her that he remembered came back to him for the second time that day.

"But how?"  Noin had recovered from the shock and was now trying to get any more information that she could out of Zecks.  

"They don't know that yet either.  Whoever it was came quickly and quietly at night while everyone was sleeping.  Somehow, they managed to get by the night guards on duty and didn't even leave a trace of where they went.  The only reason they found out that she was taken overnight was because she didn't come downstairs in the morning so someone went up to check on her.  The room was found empty, and everything was undisturbed."  Zecks spoke in hard and unforgiving tones.  

"The press has already gotten wind of it, and now the kidnapping is all over the vid-screens.  That's how I found out about it.  What are you doing?"

While Zecks had been talking Heero had left the table and had gone toward their computer, and flicked the switch to turn it on.  "If there's any new information, or anything the press doesn't know, the Preventers would know."

"You're going into their system to check their files?"  Noin followed him, "Are you sure you can-"

 "I'm in."  He hadn't thought about what he was going to do once he found out what information the Preventers had about Relena, but he did know that he wanted to know the whole story.

It only took a moment for Heero to find the information, and to scan it over.  The reporters had known most of the information already, and that made him mad.  How did anyone expect to get Relena back alive when they were publishing the details of her kidnapping?

The only new information he had found so far was that there had been a note in her room giving a time that they would be contacted.  It seemed that they would be contacted late tomorrow night.

Both Zecks and Noin were reading over his shoulders.  Without speaking to either of them, he stood up and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?"  Zecks had his arms crossed over his chest.

Without turning around Heero spoke, the old tone came back to his voice.  "To the Earth."

"I'm coming with you." It wasn't a question.

"Fine, you can probably get a ship easer then I can anyways."  He didn't ask 

either, but he did turn around to face the other man.  "Can you be ready in an hour?"

Zecks nodded stiffly.

"I'll meet you at the docking bay in an hour then."  Heero turned to walk out the door.

He made it back to his room without thinking much.  Even once he got there he got busy packing up some clothes into a duffle bag.  As he got his things together the only thing he could let himself think about was getting to Earth.  Once he got there things would come together like they always had.

Suddenly he stopped.

He had opened his nightstand drawer to get the gun that he always kept by him while he slept.  His hand hovered over it for a moment before actually reaching down and grasping it.

The metal was cold in his hand.  For a split second Heero could remember the first time he'd ever held a gun, when Odin had taught him how to use it, to fire it.  Then there had only been one use for a gun, to kill people.

Slowly he turned it over in his hand, watching as the light flashed off of the barrel.  That had been a long time ago, before the war.  By the end of that war, he had learned that there was another use for a gun, to protect people.

He hadn't had to use one since the war, and had only kept one around by force of habit.  He honestly hadn't figured he'd need to use one again.

His hand clutched more tightly around it, and then released.

"Relena," Heero spoke aloud her name for the first time in two years.  He had thought that not thinking about her, and not being around her would make him forget.  But he hadn't. He still needed to protect her, no matter what that meant for him.

"I'm coming, Relena."

*  *  *

To be continued  . . . 


	3. Part 3

Disclaimer:  I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the Gundam Characters, much to my dismay, and cannot take any credit for them.  Of course I do take credit for this story and all original characters of my own that I happen to throw in here.  Was that a good enough disclaimer?  I don't know, but we've wasted enough time here, on with the story!!

_Eternal Promises_

By Eden

**Part 3**

About eighteen hours later Heero stepped off of the shuttle on the Earth with Zecks and Noin.  He hadn't been surprised that they had both come with him, Relena meant a great deal to them as well. 

Without taking the time to look around, he began walking towards the front of the building.  They had contacted Sally Po and the Preventers when they left for Earth to tell them that they were coming.  They had gotten an update about the situation, and were told that there would be a car waiting for them to take them directly to the Peacecraft mansion.

If things were the same now as they had been then, then it didn't look good.  Heero only hoped that the other Gundam pilots had heard about this situation as well, because if anything really needed to get done he wanted to know he could trust the people he was working with.

Once in the car, Noin and Zecks tried to think about who would have the most to gain by kidnapping Relena, and also of who would have the means to pull it off so skillfully.  Heero didn't participate in the conversation.  All he could do was stair out the window blankly.

He had spent quite a bit of time on Earth in the past and had always found the sunshine to be a good thing for lifting he spirits, but on this particular day it didn't.  The sight of the sun shinning and glinting off of every car or tree they drove by only made him more determined to get this over with.

Once they pulled up to the large Peacecraft mansion Heero felt his throat tighten.  He had an image of Relena coming down the stairs towards him.

No.  He pushed the image from his mind as soon as it came.  He had to focus all his efforts on getting her back, not on his memories of her.  Narrowing his eyes and squaring his shoulders he walked in the front door.

He was in for another small shock as he stepped inside.  It may have been three years, but this place hadn't changed. The marble floors, the ornate furniture and hangings were all the same as they had been three years ago.  The only thing that was out of the ordinary was that the whole front room had been made into a makeshift base of operations.

As he was turning to walk towards a table surrounded by men, he was stopped by the sight of a familiar black head he saw out of the corner of his eye.

"Wufei."

He was leaning up against a wall, with his head bent down and his arms crossed across his chest.  He was dressed in the Preventers uniform of a dark green jacket, tan shirt and dark green dress pants.  As Heero watched, the young man lifted his head just enough so that he could confirm the body with the voice that had spoken, and then lowered it again.

"I knew that it would only be a matter of time before you showed up here.  Where did you find Zecks and Noin?"

The Chinese pilot was exactly the way that Heero had remembered him, blunt and to the point.  The only thing that had seemed to change was that he seemed calmer somehow.

"I was staying with them, and they were the ones who found out about Relena, so we all came together."  Heero looked around the room for a moment, and then turned again to Wufei. "Where are we going to be contacted by the kidnappers?  Is there something set up yet?"

"Strait to the point, hum?  Yes, we have everything set up.  It's in Relena's room, like the note said to do.  That's where everyone is waiting right now." Wufei got off of the wall.  "It's this way."  He started to walk towards the stairway.

Heero stood there for a moment, and watched him go.  He knew the way to Relena's room without following.  He had studied the floor plan for this building, and had gone through it himself room by room.

As a matter of fact, while he was on his expedition during the day when everyone was out in the city, he had gone into her room and found her lying on her bed.  It had been such and unexpected sight that he had almost slammed the door shut and left the room.  Something made him stand there in the doorway and listen.  The longer he stood there, the more positive he was that she was sleeping.

Being as quiet as he could, he had taken a step inside the room, and then closed the door part way behind him.  He looked over towards the bed, the slender figure there had not moved.

Slowly he moved closer to the bed and let his eyes move over Relena's sleeping figure.  She was wearing her now standard uniform of a long white skirt and pink blazer.  Her honey colored hair had been pushed back behind her head, and streamed across the pillow.

Her head was turned, with her cheek resting one the pillow, towards the balcony, and her violet eyes were closed tightly. 

To see her like this, the monarch of the Sanc Kingdom; the girl who had made a point of making herself known to him at every turn; so still and peaceful looking, was strange.  Of all the people he had met in his life, she was always interesting to watch.  Maybe it was because she wasn't very good at hiding her feelings, and that you could always tell what she was thinking by looking at her face.

He had gone to stand so that he could look at her face.  Her smooth skin, straight eyebrows, and soft lips.  As he watched those lips turned to a small frown, and her hands come up to wrap around her body as though she was cold.

He was concerned that she might wake up.  She worked so hard as it was that she should sleep as much as she could when she got the chance.  He looked around for a moment and then saw a blanket that was folded at the foot of the bed.

Carefully, he took the blanket out from under Relena's feet and pulled it up around her shoulders.

As he stepped back from the bed to watch, he saw her expression harden for a moment, and then soften into a blissful smile.

Slowly he had nodded his head.  She was going to stay asleep.  So being satisfied with this fact he decided to leave.

Just as he was taking his first step away from where he had been standing, he heard Relena's voice as she sighed.

"Heero,"

Surprised at what he heard, wondering if perhaps she had woken up after all, he turned around and looked back at the bed.

The violet eyes were still closed, she hadn't moved.  She had spoken in her sleep.  A sigh escaped his lips.  Being caught in her room while she was sleeping had not been part of his plan.

Heero clenched his fist tightly.  He would find her and bring her back.  He wasn't going to let anyone get away with kidnapping Relena, someone who had never hurt anyone in her life.

He was thinking about what he would like to do when he found out who had taken Relena when he suddenly felt a hand come down gently on his shoulder.  That brought him back from his thoughts, and into the present.

Slowly Heero turned around and looked at Miss Noin.  She gave him a small smile of encouragement, and then motioned towards the stairs with her other hand.

"We should probably go up now."

Standing beside her, Zecks nodded.

Heero looked up the staircase.  Wufei had already disappeared at the top.  They were both right.  With a sigh he began to mount the stairs.

By the time he walked through the door to Relena's bedroom, he was back to normal.  His mind was back on the matter at hand without thinking about all of the bad memories he had.

As he looked around the room, he nodded with approval.  All the Gundam pilots were there.  Duo, Quatre, Trowa and of course Wufei.  He was the last one to arrive, along with Zecks and Noin.

Duo came up beside him and slapped him on the back.  "Well pallie, I knew you'd come, but what took you so long?"  He had a large grin on his face as he looked over at him.

It wasn't surprising that he hadn't changed all that much.  Duo still had his long chestnut hair, which was of course tied up in its trademark braid.  His cobalt eyes moved around the room devilishly, the look was accompanied by his ever present rankish grin.  He had long ago lost his priest like clothes for a sportier leather jacket and black pants, but he would never loose his devil may care attitude.

He had always been the one who lightened any situation while Heero and the other pilots were more apt to stay somber and focused.

"I came as quickly as I could."  Heero answered lowering his eyes.

"Noin, it's been a long time."  A voice came from behind them in the doorway.

Heero and the others turned to see Noin and Sally Po hugging each other in greeting.  The two women who had worked together for so long had separated two years ago when Noin had left earth and the Preventers to go away with Zecks.

"Sally, it's been too long."

"I'm glad tat I get to see everyone here together," Sally had let go of Noin, and had taken a step away from her and looked around at all of the faces around the room, acknowledging each in turn. "I just wish that we were seeing each other under better circumstances."

She let out a sigh, and ten continued on.

"As you all know, Relena was abducted two nights ago.  The person who cleans her room confirmed that she had been wearing a pair of pajamas and a robe at the time, and that she had either been taken while she was on the balcony, or the assailant just came in through the balcony door."  Sally was quickly running through the facts that they had gathered so far about what happened.

Quatre cleared his throat and spoke up.  "Do we know yet who it was that kidnapped Miss Relena, or for what reason?"   

Heero lifted his gaze to look at the Arabian pilot.  He wasn't surprised that he had asked such a question.  Despite his almost noble up bringing and the almost innocent look of his face, he was a cunning strategist.  It was fortunate for them that he hadn't lost that skill, it would probably be a help later.  

"We've been monitoring communication channels for any type of general announcement to rebel organization members.  So far since there hasn't been any communication to any large group of people, we have to assume that whoever pulled this off was either a select group with a specific purpose in mind, or a large and highly organized group who again would have specific reasons for abducting Relena."  Wufei paused for a moment before continuing.  "In any case it wasn't any of the more well known groups form earth or the colonies."

"Unfortunately we haven't been able to pinpoint a specific group who would've wanted to do this, so we've been forced to wait for them to contact us."  Sally sighed, obviously frustrated with the way that things seemed to be happening.  She was more used to being able to control a situation like this, or at least be able to tell who the enemy was.  Everything was different this time though.

Trowa was standing strait, his arms crossed over his chest decisively.  "So we wait for the kidnappers to moke their move."  He tilted his head to the side; and Heero caught the glint of one brilliant green eye from behind his long brown bangs.

"I don't know about you guys, but I hate waiting."  Duo spoke again, flipping his braid over his shoulder.

Sally checked her watch, and then looked at the glowing digital numbers of the alarm clock on the nightstand beside Relena's large bed.  "Well I don't think that we have much longer to wait.  They should be trying to contact us soon."  She walked over to the small laptop computer sitting on Relena's desk and turned on the screen.

Zecks had been shifting from foot to foot nervously almost, although no one else had noticed.  Now he moved form his position that he had taken by the doorway, and went over towards sally as she leaned over the keyboard.  "So do you have anything set up to trace where the call comes from?"

Not moving from her position above the keyboard, she nodded.  "We did set something up for that, but we don't know how well it will work."

"What do you mean?"  Nail blue eyes narrowed into slits.

"Well, as far as we can till from the little bit of information we do have, the people who took Relena seem like they must be fairly technologically inclined.  Because of that we set up a simple IP address trace that just simply traces the location of the signal by the computer that they're accessing.  They'll probably be on alert for any advanced form of a trace, but chances are that they'll be unprepared for something as basic as what we've got."  Sally's mouth was set in a hard line.

"If they're that technologically advanced it won't matter what king of trace you try, it won't work."

Seven pairs of eyes turned to look as Heero finally spoke.  They all know how good he was at hacking into computer systems, and that his computer knowledge was unmatched within the group.

Sally straitened,  "And why won't it work, Heero?"

"Mainly because they'll probably re-route the signal and send it through other locations and computers, scrambling the initial location."

"Well, what should we do?"

Heero came over to take over Sally's position in front of the screen.  In a moment his fingers were flying across the keyboard, the screen showed the complicated program he was inputting, apparently from memory.  When he finally pressed the enter button and stood back, Sally asked what he had done.

"I've changed the programming to search the transmission for the address it was sent from rather than trying to back track where it comes from.  Every price of information sent has an address attached to it that the person sending it may or may not be aware of.  This is the best way to find out where they are without them knowing what we're doing, because we won't be sending out any transmissions of our own to alert them."  Heero stopped talking long enough to narrow intensely blue eyes. "Of course theirs no guarantees this will work either."

"Is there anything else that we can do now?"  Noin held her arms stiffly at her sides.

"No," Sally shook her head slowly, looking around the room at the somber individuals.  "Now we wait."

Everyone in the room was silent.  They were all lost in private thought.  Even duo had taken to un-characteristic quiet, and didn't seem to be making any moves to say anything.  It was obvious that they all had the same things on their minds, and that talking about it wasn't necessary.

Heero looked around from one former Gundam pilot to the next, regretting for the first time that he hadn't made any effort to contact or keep in touch with any of them after the Mariemaia Crises.  These people standing with him in this room were probably the only people who had ever actually tried to understand him.  They were the only people who could've really understood the things that he was feeling while he had fought in the war not so long ago.

He did the same things over and over again.  He alienated the people who came the closest to knowing him, Zecks and Noin, the other Gundam pilots, Relena, . . .

Just as he let his mind begin to wander he was interrupted by the sound of the laptop's speakers crackling to life.

Everyone raised their heads and looked towards the screen expectantly.

It took a moment, but a picture formed and soon all of them could see a familiar golden head of hair, and partially covered violet eyes.

Heero widened his eyes a bit in surprise, and then they returned to normal as his gaze locked with the one coming from the screen.

"Relena."


	4. Part 4

Disclaimer:  I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the Gundam Characters, much to my dismay, and cannot take any credit for them.  Of course I do take credit for this story and all original characters of my own that I happen to throw in here.  Was that a good enough disclaimer?  I don't know, but we've wasted enough time here, on with the story!!

_Eternal Promises_

By Eden

**Part 4**

It was dark inside the small room; actually it was hardly big enough to even be called a room.  It was large enough to take a couple of strides in any direction before you had to turn around and go the other way.  Relena would know, after all that was what she had been doing since she had woken up from her drug induced slumber to try and clear her head of the head-ach she had been painfully aware of since then.

Suddenly stopping her inane pacing, she let a sigh escape her lips as she leaned against the cold metal wall.  She didn't even know how long she had been here.  There were no windows on the room to indicate what time of day it was, and she wasn't wearing her watch.

While slowly allowing herself to slide down the wall to sit on the floor, Relena dropped her head into her hands.  Why did these things have to happen?  She didn't even know who it was that kidnapped her and brought her to this place, or why.

Relena gently moved her hands against her temples as she thought about her abduction.  She had been coming back inside after standing on her balcony when three individuals dropped down in front of the door and surrounded her.

They had all been fully dressed in black, and wore black ski masks to cover their faces.

Although she had been startled and frightened, she hadn't screamed.  Only now did she realize the folly in that.

Once the first of her assailants, obviously male, reached out and grabbed her from behind, Relena tried to kick him in the shins.  Even though her kicks connected, and she was struggling to get away, her captor would not let her go.  As she watched, one of the other two brought out a bottle and a cloth and proceeded to dampen the cloth with the contents.

When they started to come towards where she was being held, Relena's struggling became more frantic and desperate.  

The man behind her gripped on her shoulders tighter and prevented her from moving.  The individual in front of her came and grabbed her hair to keep her from moving her head, and with the other hand, covered her mouth and nose with the cloth.

She knew it was chloroform before the acrid smell entered her nostrils, and she tried hard to shake off the hand covering her face, but to no avail.  Although she continued to struggle, her efforts grew weaker until she couldn't move her arms and legs anymore.

If it hadn't been for the attacker holding her up, she would've collapsed onto the ground in a crumpled heap.  It was all that she could do to keep her eyes open, never leaving the covered face of the individual in fount of her.

Even in the dark she could see the jewel-like eyes glittering as they watched her grow limp in the other persons restraining arms.

As she was slowly lowered to the ground by the attacker holding her, the one holding the cloth over her face kneeled down and leaned in closer to her.  She could tell by looking at this person's eyes that they were male as well.  The eyebrows were broader and the cool eyes harder then any women's could be.

She tried to keep her eyes open so that she could study this man's eyes.  There was something very familiar about the way those eyes looked at her, hard and unwavering.  Her mind was muddled and she was close to loosing conciseness.

But she refused to let go just yet with this staring her in the face.  She could feel the answer hovering just beyond her reach, if only she could . . .

Suddenly it struck her, how could she have been so blind?

Blue.

The same color blue that you see lingering in the sky after lighting has flashed across it.  That impossible Prussian blue that seemed too incredible for an eye color.

Relena gasped, her eyes had widened, as she had been almost too shocked for words.  Somehow though, one muffled word found it's way out of her lips.

"Heero."

Everything after that was blackness.  She didn't know how long she'd been out, or how far they had gone when she did pass out.

Ever since she had dragged herself out from the numbing darkness into the painful light of conciseness, she had been in this room.  She had opened her eyes only to close them again in pain from a headache, obviously the remaining souvenir of the chloroform.

In an effort to lessen the pain, she had tried pacing across the small cell.

'Lot of good that did me.'  Relena thought miserably as she brought her had up from her hands.

She looked around at her surroundings for about the hundredth time since she had woken up, but things hadn't changed.  There was still the same hard metal on the walls, and hard metal grating on the floor.

The door was sealed shut form the outside with nothing on the inside of the door.  There wasn't even a handle or hinges coming into the room.  There were no windows, or openings into the room to speak of.  The only source of light was a small battery operated camping lantern that had been placed on the floor in the middle of the room.

There was absolutely no way to escape form this situation on her own from inside this room.  All that Relena could do was pray that her captors kept her alive long enough for a rescue operation to find her.

Another sigh escaped her lips as she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.  She allowed herself to drop her head down to rest on the top of her knees as she let her mind wander.

It wasn't surprising that her thoughts went to the male captor with the Prussian blue eyes.  She had so many questions that she wanted answered, like why she had been kidnapped, and by whom?  Of course the question that was burning in her mind the most was weather or not the blue eyed captor had been Heero.

'But the way he looked at me was just like how he used to look at me during the war.  Oh why me?'

Relena could feel her temples throbbing more than they had been earlier.  What she wouldn't gibe for an aspirin.  Slowly she allowed her eyes to close.  Maybe a little nap would help it go away.

She woke up later, and the painful throbbing in her head had dulled, but was still there.

Slowly opening her eyes Relena noticed that everything in the room was the same as it had been before, with one small exception.  A plate of food had been placed on the floor beside the lantern. 

She went towards it on her hands and knees.  The plate of bread and butter looked fine, as did the plastic bottle of water that stood beside it.  Cautiously, she picked up one of the slices of bread, and lifted it to her nose to sniff.

Nothing seemed wrong with the food, and she was hungry after all.  She hadn't realized it until now, but as she knelt there with the bread lifted to her nose, her stomach let out a loud rumble. 

Silently Relena debated with herself, weather or not to eat.  The food could be poisoned after all.  She gave a mental shrug finally, let the kidnappers deal with that, and took a bite.

Never had something so simple tasted so good.  She took a couple of large bites, and them greedily shoved the rest of the piece into her mouth as she reached for the plastic bottle.

Unscrewing the lid, she heard the safety seal crackle as it opened, and then took a long drink.  She carefully regarded the second piece of bread and contemplated weather or not to eat it right away or save it until later.  She wasn't given a lot of time before her stomach answered for her with another giant growl.

She was just finishing off the second piece of bread with a large swig of water when there was a bang from outside, and then the large door swung outwards.  Relena recapped the bottle, and prepared to face whomever came through the door.

As the door was pulled open wider, Relena saw a large bodied man standing there.  He was tall, with impossibly broad shoulders that took up the entire doorway that left no room for escape.

She had stood up, and had put her best no-nonsense face.  If she was going to try and find out what was going on, she needed to let them know that she meant business.

The tall man regarded her carefully, looking at her wrinkled robe, and tangled hair.

Relena's resolve almost crumbled under the close scrutiny that this man had her under.  She began to feel self-conscious, her hands itched to run themselves through her hair to tame it.  Of course, once she saw the smug look flash in his eyes, her heart hardened.

She stood up straighter and narrowed her eyes at him.  That sudden action alone was enough to take him by surprise.  She could read it clearly from the expression on his face.

Of course, it didn't take long for him to recover from his shock.  He motioned to somebody else who was standing outside the door, and was handed a pile of clothes.

He took a couple of steps into the room and held the pile out to her with a voice that echoed off the metal walls.

"Please put these on, Miss Relena.  We'll be back in half an hour to get you."

Relena accepted the pile of clothes from the man.  "Who are you people," She asked, "And what do you want with me?"

The man turned his back on her and exited the room, turning at the doorway to look back at her.  "After your dressed we'll take you to speak with someone who will answer your questions."

"Who is this other person?  Why don't they come and talk to me now?"  She spoke in hard tones.

"Please don't make this any harder on yourself, Miss Relena.  This is the way that things will be done."  He turned to grasp the door in one large hand, "I'll be back in half an hour."

With that, the door was slammed shut without giving her a chance to say anything more.

Relena stood there in the middle of the room with her pile of clothes and sighed.  She didn't have much choice but to do as the man had said to do if she wanted to get any information.  She hated being herded into a corner without being given a choice.

She looked sown at the pile she had in her arms and began to see what they'd given her.  

It seemed that they had brought her a suit like what she usually wore to work.  It was a navy blue blazer with a matching knee length skirt.  There was also a set of undergarments, nylons and a hairbrush.  Everything she would need to get ready to see this mysterious person who had the answers to all of her questions.

Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that this went the way that they wanted it to go, right down to her attire.  The clothes were all exactly her size, even the undergarments fit like they were her own from home.

What was this all about?  How could someone know these things about her?  It wasn't like her size was something you could just find on the Internet, someone had actually made it inside of her home and into her life.  The thought that her privacy had been violated made her furious.

Relena changed into the new clothes and then carefully sat on the ground to brush out her hair.  As she did so she thought about the current situation that she now found herself in.  She needed someway to find out who had come into her home and betrayed her personal life to some unknown person.  She gripped the brush handle tighter as she tried to think who it could be.  Who could do such a thing?

As she finished working the tangles out of her hair, the door opened and the large man stepped into view.  He held out a pair of navy pumps to her.

Relena stood up slowly, taking care to smooth out her skirt and suit jacket, and then walked over to accept the pumps from the man.  She placed her hand firmly against the wall and then slipped on the shoes one at a time, eyes never faltering or leaving the man's face.  It wasn't surprising that once she had the shoes on her feet they fit perfectly.

As she straitened up the large man turned to leave the room.  Instead of following him though, she stood there in the cell and clenched one slender fist.

"Can you tell me who was the spy in my home?"

The man turned around outside the door.  She thought that he was far too calm for a man who had just found out that a part of a plan had been discovered.  

He just shook his head calmly though.  "I cannot tell you now, but you will find out soon."  The man's eyes told her that he regretted not being able to tell her what she wanted to know.

Relena knew that it wasn't this man's fault.  Her fist unclenched the rage in her lost for that moment.  This man wasn't in charge.  He was only following orders. Of course he was going to take her to the one in charge.

The thought of being able to question this person directly made her lift her head.  Renewed determination burned in her eyes.  She would get to the bottom of this situation, one way or the other.

"Miss Relena," The man's voice made her look back at him. "Would you follow me, please?"

She put on her best political poker face, and gave him a curt nod. "Yes, I will.  Please lead the way."


	5. Part 5

Disclaimer: All right, a new part needs a new disclaimer.  I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters, (wish I did like so many others) and can't take any credit for them.  But I'm borrowing them for this.  I will of course point out that this story is my own, and so are any new characters I've somehow come up with.

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_Eternal Promises_

By Eden

**Part 5**

The man pushed open the heavy door in front of them, and stepped aside and gestured for Relena to enter the room first.  Taking in a breath, she squared her shoulders and went into the room.

At first she was surprised to see the early evening sunshine slanting through the vertical blinds at the front of the room.  She never would've guessed it was so late in the day.  Of course she had been inside the windowless cell for what could've been days.  There was no way of knowing.

The whole set up of the room seemed to be a lot like what she thought an office should look like.  The large open space by the door and the large windows by the back wall.  Almost like her office at home.  Actually, as she heard the man close the door after he came in after her, she had begun to notice the office furnishings in the dim light.

There was a large desk directly in font of the windows, and a tall rubber plant beside it too the right.  Against the walls on either side there were bookcases and slanted in fount of the desk were two, soft looking chairs.

At first she hadn't thought that there was anybody in the room.  She had thought that it was empty, but then, as she squinted against the orangy glow coming from the window, she noticed that the tall chair behind the desk was turned to face the window.

Gathering her courage, she took a few steps across the room towards the desk.  Just as she was opening her mouth to say something, a voice that wasn't her own spoke.

"Thank you for co-operating, Miss Relena.  We are very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you so far, but this should all be over for you soon." The very male voice came form the chair that faced the window.

The back of the chair was quite tall, but it wasn't tall enough to block the top of the man's head from showing.  The dying glow of the sun coming though the window made what must be blond hair have an orange tinge.

Relena was confused.  She hadn't recognized the voice, and she only know two blond hared men, both of which she knew would never do this to her.  Of course this blond hared man was a stranger, but what did he want?

She hadn't realized that she had spoken the last part out loud until the man answered her question.

He let out a small chuckle.  "I can imagine how you would want to know about that, and for good reason."

As she watched the chair turned around from the window, and faced the desk.

The blond man who turned his eyes up to look at her was only a few years older than herself, but seemed to command authority from the men around him.  She noticed out of the corner of her eye as the large man who had accompanied her straitened his posture and stiffened.

She was intrigued.  How could someone so young command such attention, and seeming obedience from men so much older and supposedly with more experience?  Who was she to wonder about that though?  People had thought the same thing about her for years, ever since she had taken up the role as the monarch of the Sanc Kingdom.

Her eyes were drawn to her face, which although was obscured by shadows, seemed to be very attractive.  The blond hair, that she had noticed first, fell over his eyes in an unruly way.  Something about that seemed familiar, but she couldn't place her finger on exactly who it reminded her of. 

He continued talking to her, his voice came at her in smooth fluid tones.  "As you may have already noticed, Miss Relena, it's not you that we are interested in.  We have absolutely no interest in using you to exploit the ESUN, or in disrupting your ideals of peace.  Of course we do realize the commotion that your disappearance has caused with the other countries and colonies."

A smile passed over his face.  "We are very sorry for the inconvenience, but hopefully this will all be over for you soon." 

She took another step towards the desk so that she could get a better look at the young man seated behind it.

"If you have no demands against the ESUN, my ideals of peace or my life, then why kidnap me at all?  You realize that weather you intended to or not, you may cause an international incident?" Relena spoke calmly, and yet did not try to hide her curiosity.

"Unfortunately I can't tell you the exact reason why, but what I will tell you is that the best way to bring a rabbit out of its hole is with the right bait."  He smiled and then stood up and walked around the desk towards her.

"And what bait you are."  He stopped right in front of her and reached out a hand to gently touch her cheek.  "There are many men who would gladly throw their lives away to protect someone as beautiful and as wise as yourself."

The way those eyes were looking at her seemed wrong, the hungry look didn't fit.  Of course there was something strangely familiar in those eyes that she couldn't quite place.  She looked up and met his gaze.

Even though Relena knew what she would see she was still unprepared to see it.  Seeing those familiar eyes in such an unfamiliar face was very disconcerting.  Not only that, but she had always thought that no one else could ever have eyes like those.

Blue.  The brightest shade of Prussian blue she had ever seen.  Relena would've never believed that it was humanly possible to have eyes quite that shade until she'd seen it herself.  And now, here she was.  Face to face with another young man who by some unbelievable act of God, had the exact same color eyes she had thought so impossible.

But they weren't the same.  Relena shook her head and turned away from the hand on her cheek.  After taking a few steps away from the man, she could think clearly again. The eyes might look the same, but the person that they belonged to wasn't.

She heard a low chuckle come from behind her.  When she turned around to look she saw that the blond man was now leaning against the front of the desk, his head bent forward allowing his unruly hair to cover the unbelievable eyes completely.

Something about the way this man acted made Relena think of someone executing a sick plan.  The worst thing was that she felt like she was a large part of it.

"Who is this person that your trying to draw out?"  She had regained her composure, and intended to get the most information out of this man as possible before he tried anything else.

"Oh now why would I want to spoil the surprise so early?"  He had remained where he was, but had brought a hand up to smooth the top of his hair.  "Why don't you ask me another question?"

This man was totally infuriating.  It seemed as thought he had an inability to give a straight answer.

"Why don't you tell me who the spy was that you put into my home?"  Relena could feel her fist clench again in anger.

She saw a smile appear on his lips as he slowly raised his head.  "Now that's a good question, but one that I can't actually answer.  You see I can't take any credit for thinking of putting a spy in your home.  We just thought we'd ask around your office and see who knew your clothing size for a new outfit that someone saw you liked.

Relena hated the fact that this man seemed to get enjoyment out of mocking her with his plans.  It was plain to her that he had thought this whole thing over very well before he had executed it, and now he was enjoying his own cleverness.

Well at least now she could stop worrying about how she would get rid of a spy.  The fact that there hadn't been one made her feel a little better.  Her employees had thought that they were only helping with a gift, not anything sinister.  Who could get mad about that?

With a sigh, she shook her head and unclenched her fist.  What other surprises awaited her next question?

He was looking at her, his arms crossed across his chest, awaiting her next question.  The look that passed across his face was almost as thought he was challenging her to ask him something he wasn't prepared for.

'I will try not to disappoint you.' Her mouth turned a little harder as she took up his challenge.

"There is one last thing that I want to ask you.  Of course, it's something I realize I should've asked you first."

"Really?"  He had continued smiling towards her.

Relena noticed movement out the corner of her eye.  She turned to see the large man who had brought her to the office step forward a few steps and clear his throat.  She turned again, this time to see the younger man turn his attention towards him, suddenly loosing his smile and growing immediately business-like.

"Yes, what is it Reiko?"

"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's almost time to begin the broadcast."

The young man looked down at his own watch and then smiled again, slowly.  "Yes, it would seem that you are correct, thank you."

"What kind of broadcast?"  Relena asked as he turned his eyes away form his watch to look at her.

"Relena, we are about to begin the process of getting you back home."  He pushed himself up from the desk and uncrossed his arms.  Almost all trace of his earlier teasing attitude was gone, replaced by down to business, polite mannerisms.  "I have to go and take care of a few things, but if you would be so kind to go with Reiko, he will show you to the room where we will do the broadcast."

She was completely taken aback by this sudden turn in events.

"You mean your going to send me home now?"

He nodded.  "Very soon.  You will be on your way home in no more than a few hours."

Relena narrowed her eyes.  "What's the catch?  What is it that you hope to get out of this whole thing?"

"Whatever it is that I wish to receive form this endeavor is something that you shouldn't worry about.  Now please go with Reiko and I will see you a little later."  He gave a curt nod and strode out of the office.

As he departed, Relena was left to stair out the large windows behind the desk.  As she stood there for a moment and tried to understand what exactly was going on, a heavy hand came down and rested on her shoulder.

"We really must be going as well, Miss."

Without turning around she nodded.  "I will go with you, because you are going to let me go home.  There is one thing that I'd like you to do for me while we go though."

Reiko's large hand dropped from her shoulder.  "What would that be?"

She turned around to face the large man.  "Would you be able to tell me what this broadcast is all about?"

The corner of his mouth turned up into an unexpected smile.  "Miss, this is the first time that I can indeed tell you what it is you want to know about."

He motioned for Relena to walk with him, and they began to walk through the door.

"This broadcast that we are going to do is actually to your home so that we can let the people there know that you are alright, and also to tell them where they can pick you up."  Reiko walked beside her down the hallway, that they had already walked down once that day, without looking at her.

"Who is supposed to be there?"  She had begun to like this large man.  He had begun to feel like one of her assistants, someone she could feel at ease with, defiantly not a good thing.  Thoughts like those were the one's that could get you killed in a situation like this.

He went on, not even noticing the way she had straitened her posture, and hardened her jaw.

"The Preventers will be their for sure, and perhaps some others."

She looked up at Reiko.  "Others?  Who do you mean by others?"

"We won't know who else is there until we actually do the broadcast."

"Oh, I see."  Relena thought for a moment.  "So will you tell them to come and get me here?"

"No," He answered quickly.  "We will not tell them where we are, even though if we're not careful they may find out anyways.  We will take you to another location to wait for them to come and get you."

She nodded.  As she looked up she noticed that they were turning into another room, just off the main hallway.  It wasn't a large room by any standards, but it did have some things that made it interesting.  A computer sat at the far side of the room, and a man stood there fiddling with the wired in the back of it.

Reiko put a hand on her back when she stopped in doorway, and maneuvered her towards the machine. 

"Is it ready yet?"  He asked the man who was still fiddling with the wires as if they weren't there.

"Well, I think that this will give us access to broadcast out and receive information in without being traced."  The man leaned down a little lower to get a better look at the wires coming out of the computer's back.  "Of course we have no idea what kind of preparations they did to their own system before now."

"How soon can you get us up?"

The man looked up from the wires for the first time.  "Give me about five more minutes to get ready."

Reiko nodded at him and them turned towards Relena.  "We'll use this time to go over what you should say while we're on the air."

As he went over the things that she should say she watched the other man as he attached a few more wires to the back of the computer and then went to the keyboard and began to type.  He typed so fast that his fingers practically flew across the keys.  It reminded her of someone, . . .

Just as he pressed the enter key that cleared the screen, Reiko finished talking and asked her a question.

She jumped a little and then smiled out of embarrassment. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Do you understand everything that you're going to say?"

"Oh yes."  She nodded and regained her professional composure.  The fact that she would be going home soon had made her act almost happy for a moment.  That was something that she shouldn't let show until she was actually at home.  Just them saying that she would soon be home could be part of a greater ploy to get her to trust them, and then they would find a way to use that trust against her.  She couldn't have that.

"Alright then," Reiko stood up and went towards the computer.  "Let's get started with this.  Is everything ready?"

"All that we need to do now is connect and then we're up and running."

"Good."  He nodded and gestured for Relena to sit down on the chair in front of the computer.  "Do it now."

The man leaned over the keyboard again as Relena sat down, and then looked up at her face.  "Are you ready?"

Taking a deep breath she nodded her head.  It was always better to get these things over with than to wait.

"Alright," He hit another key, and stood back away from the screen.  "Your on."

Relena watched as the screen slowly went form black to reveal first a fuzzy view of a number of figures standing around closely together.  As she watched the faces and figures became clearer. 

Some of the people she wasn't too surprised to see, like Sally or Wufei.  They were Preventers after all, and she was used to working closely with them.  Quatra also was someone she had seen a lot in the last few years, and she almost smiled in spite of herself when she saw Duo and Trowa standing behind the blond Arabian boy.

She was a little shocked with the image of Miss Noin and her brother Milliardo, both of whom she hadn't seen since the Mariemaia crises.  Any shock she felt about seeing both of them was forgotten once her eyes fell on a familiar dark head and lean frame.

It could only be the person she had been envisioning the whole time she had been in this awful situation.  She was having problems believing the proof right in front of her though.

"Relena."

Hearing her name being uttered in those hard tones confirmed what her eyes couldn't.  There was only one person it could possibly be.

"Heero."


	6. Part 6

Disclaimer: Well, another chapter, another nickel.  Wait, no nickel, I'm not making any money off of this; I don't own Gundam Wing, or the Gundam characters.  Of course, I do take credit, or own the rights to this particular story, and all characters that I happen to make up and throw in here.

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_Eternal Promises_

By Eden

**Part 6**

As he heard his name issued towards him, he knew that it could only be Relena who was looking at him through the screen and not some soul-less picture.  He could feel himself relax a little bit when he saw that she looked fine, no bruises or marks on her face, or fearful look in her eyes.

Actually, she seemed more startled to see him than anything else.

'Of course she's surprised,' Heero scolded himself.  'I haven't seen her for two years.'

He could feel everyone's eyes on him.  It had been plainly obvious to everyone that the connection the two had a few years ago had not gotten weak with time.  He was sure that they were all waiting for something else to be said, but what was he supposed to do?  When it came to Relena, he had always found it hard to put his feelings into words, even to himself.  That was one thing that time hadn't changed.

"Hey, Heero," Duo came and stood beside him and leaned closer to his ear, disrupting his train of thought.  "What are you doing just standing their staring at her?  Say something!"

Heero looked at the braided boy beside him for a moment, narrowing his eyes.  What did he think he had been trying to do for the last minute? 

Suddenly it sounded as though Relena had found her voice, as the speakers crackled to life with the sound of her speaking.

Everyone turned to look at the screen again.

Relena had all of a sudden begun to feel very nervous.  It wasn't like this was the first time she had ever made a speech, and she had defiantly never felt like this before.  'Goodness,' She thought wringing her hands in her lap, 'What's wrong with me?'

Of course she knew even before she thought about it.  It wasn't just the expectant faces of familiar people staring out of the screen at her.  It was just one person's face.

He was looking at her, staring into her eyes as if there was something he wanted to say.  Relena wanted to say something too, but her voice was caught in her throat, and stopped her from saying anything.

God, he had changed.  Not that she minded of course, he had only gotten better looking.  His face had matured with age, and no longer had the childish look to it.  His jaw seemed more defined, and his eyes more piercing.  She also noticed with a small inward smile that he still had the same wild, untamable dark brown hair, and serious expression on his beautiful mouth.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same she supposed.

She could feel Reiko's eyes staring at her, boring holes in her.  Nervously she swallowed, and watched the screen as Duo went up beside Heero and whispered something in his ear.  When she saw Heero's eyes narrow and turn to stair at him, she saw her chance to start.

Taking a breath to calm herself, she started with the things Reiko had told her to say.  Better to start simple then mess up.

"My name is Relena Darlian."

"I am not being held by a terrorist organization who wishes to disrupt peace between the colonies and Earth, nor does this group wish to kill me."

Heero watched as the voice of the Vice Foreign Minister came over the speakers.  Her face looked the way that it did when he had watched her address the world about new peace policies, and when she had voiced her hatred of war.

Her honey colored hair was pushed back behind her ears, leaving her slender face free of it, her skin looked creamy smooth.  The brilliant violet eyes of hers shone out from her face and looked up at him like two jewels in the light.

He could tell that she was trying to remain composed though this speech she was doing.  She was trying to hold back with her mouth the questions he could see in her eyes.

"This group of people actually have no interest in me whatsoever, and have only taken me in order to get to some other individual.  The identity of this individual has yet not been made known to me, but I have been told that they will be notified in some form within the next week."

As everyone in the room looked around at the people standing around them, each one wondering whom it could be, Heero narrowed his eyes a little more and continued to watch Relena.  He didn't like the way this was going at all.  Why would this group need to take someone as influential as Relena to draw a single person out?  Especially since they obviously had exceptional skills and talents when it came to stealth, and covering evidence.  They could have easily found any one of them and gotten them out of hiding without having to get her involved.

Of course, he thought, if her kidnapping had all been a ploy to get someone out of hiding, and hadn't been about her, all the better.  At least she hadn't been hurt.  It wasn't that he didn't care about the ploy; it was just that he was more concerned at the moment about getting Relena back safely.

"The last thing that I have been told to tell you is about my release.  I have been informed that I will be left in a warehouse about fifteen kilometers east of the capital of Belgium.  This is a drop off point only."

Heero noticed that she raised her eyebrows a little and looked over as if to confer with someone who was off to the side of the screen.  When she looked back, she caught his eye again and continued, this time as if she was speaking to him alone.

"There will be no one else there, just me.  It is not a trap of any kind.  I'll be there tomorrow at noon.  Any attempts to survey to area, or to set the group up will result in my continued abduction."  She finished the speech with a sigh.  Her eyes were pleading with Heero not to do anything.  He could tell by looking at her that she wasn't scared, just concerned about what could happen if he did try anything.

He was too.  These people may have told her what was going to happen, but that didn't mean it would go down as planned.  

The real problem was that these people really held all of the cards at the moment.  Nothing could be done without putting Relena in danger, and he would rather die than do that.

A question had been running through his mind ever since she had begun taking though, and before he could open his mouth to ask her, Quatra spoke up.

"Are you alright, Miss Relena?"

Relena couldn't help but smile when the fellow politician asked her how she was.  She had been thinking about anything else besides how she was herself.

"Yes," She said nodding her head.  "I'm fine.  I just want to go home."

She watched the group on the screen sigh, and then as her brother stepped forward.  "Have they hurt you?"

"They have made it quite clear that they have no desire to hurt me, and they have lived up to this promise.  They have not laid a hand on me in any way."  She thought for a moment and then continued.  "Of course, of things don't go the way they are supposed to go, I don't know what will happen to me." 

Reiko tapped his wrist to indicate she was running out of time, and that she should hurry.  She nodded at him, and then turned back to the people staring at her form the screen.

"I have to go now, they're telling me to wrap things up."

"Be careful, Relena."  Milliardo looked at her, concern flashing in his eyes.

"And don't worry, Princess," Duo grinned, slinging an arm around Heero's shoulders.  "We'll be there to pick you up at noon tomorrow." 

A small smile turned up the corner of her mouth.  "Thank you."  She looked at all of them, her eyes coming to rest of Heero, who had by now pushed Duo's offending arm off his shoulder, and was meeting her gaze head on.

She slowly bowed her eyes down for a moment, and then locked eyes with him again.  It was her confession to him.  "I believe in you."

To Heero, the message she sent to him couldn't have been any clearer than if she had put it up with neon lights.  Relena had just come out and told him her feelings for him as if they were the only two people their in the room.

His mind raced as he thought of all the implications this could have on his life.  On the outside though, he still projected the calmness and coldness of a perfect soldier.  He knew he should've tried to find a way to let her know she was not alone in her feelings, but the part of him that had always shied away from emotional attachment to people wouldn't allow it.

'It's safer this way.' He thought to himself, but somehow when he looked into her eyes, that was the last thing he wanted to think about.

The most response he was able to give her was a nod.  It was a way to let her know subtly that he understood the meaning behind her words.

She smiled at that, understanding what he was trying to tell her without words. 

That was a relief that she understood him, because just as she did it the screen began to go dark, and her image began to fade from view.  She faded to black and was gone in a matter of seconds.  They wouldn't see her again until noon the following day.

Heero closed his eyes for a moment and bowed his head.  When he raise it again it was to make a silent confession to Relena, weather or not she knew it.  'I will come for you Relena,' He clenched one hand into a fist, 'Because I believe in you too.'

As the screen faded to black before her eyes, the smile Relena had put on her face dropped off with a sigh.  Seeing all those people; Sally, Noin, her brother Milliardo, and the Gundam pilots, had lifted her mood up at the time.  Especially when they had shown obvious concern for her well being.  But now that they were no longer there in front of her on the screen, she was all alone again.

 'Oh Heero,' She thought brushing away a few stray hairs off her face, 'Don't keep me waiting too long.'

Reiko was looking at her with his arms crossed across his chest.  "You did well."

"Thank you."  She didn't feel like being praised at the moment.  She only wanted one thing and she didn't know how much longer she had to wait.

Suddenly she looked up at him.  "When are we going to leave to go to the drop-off point?"

"Soon, we just have to wait for . . . Oh!  There you are Sir."  He looked towards the doorway, and straitened his posture.

Relena looked towards the doorway and saw whom she had been expecting to see.  The blond hared young man stood their, one hand on his hip, surveying the room.

"Is it one already?"  He asked, the corner of his mouth turning up in a lopsided smirk.

Reiko nodded his head.  "Everything went according to the plan.  They all understand the importance of doing what we ask, because of what the consequences could be."

The man nodded his head as he took a few steps into the room.  "That's good, we don't want anyone doing anything stupid and then saying, 'You didn't tell me!'"  He stopped beside Relena's chair and looked down at her.  He seemed to expect some kind of response from her about his ill-mannered joke.

Relena did no more that glance up at him for a moment, showing no expression on her face, and then drop her head back down to stair at the black screen.  She had no interest in encouraging his crude jokes; she was not in any kind of mood to put up with it.

He shifted around a bit beside her.  "I see that seeing your friends did nothing for your mood."

She immediately stood up facing him.  She was not about to let this man get the best of her, no matter how she felt.  She put her most professional look on her face and looked right at him.  "The only thing that has any effect on my mood is my anxiety to get home.  You will excuses my though if I do not share your sense of humor when it comes to my friends."

He got a thoughtful look to his face.  "I understand you care about your friends as much, or more than they care about you."  What looked like an almost genuine smile flew to his lips, "You are a truly amazing person."

Relena couldn't have been more shocked than if he had tried to tell her that he was the pope.

Of course, it didn't last long, and almost as soon as it appeared it was gone.  Their wasn't even a trace of it left on his face, it was like it had never been there.

"I suppose that you would like to know then how much longer it will be until we leave, since your so anxious to get home."

"I was a little curious on that point, yes."

He pulled his blazer jacket away from his wrist and checked his watch.  "We will be leaving fairly soon if we want to be their on time.  Is there anything that you need to do before we get ready to leave?"

Relena shook her head, not wanting to delay this trip anymore than they had to.

The man motioned towards Reiko.  "Lead the way, my good man.  Let's get this show on the road without further delays."

Reiko nodded and moved towards the doorway.

As Relena looked at the young man, she saw that he had his arm extended to allow her to follow after first.  He had an amused look on his face.

"After you, Miss Relena."

They walked down the hallway in silence.  Relena wasn't feeling up to making conversation.  All she could think about was getting home so that she could talk with everyone about this situation.  In truth, their was really only one person that she wanted to talk to, and she hoped that he would stay long enough after she was back so they could exchange a few unhurried words with one another.  There were so many questions that she wanted to ask him . . . 

Oh goodness! She had been so caught up with thinking about going home that she had almost forgotten the question that she wanted to ask this blond man!  Suddenly as they were walking through the doorway she turned around and faced him.

He was a little surprised to see her whip around and stop him in the door way, she could tell by is face. Of course that didn't stop her from going on.

"I still do have one question to ask you that I didn't get a chance to ask before."

"Is that right?"  He almost seemed like he was preoccupied with other things as he took her shoulders and turned her around to make her walk into the room.  "Now, what could that be?"

Relena saw that this new room she was being lead into was about the same size as the other room they had been in earlier.  The only difference between the two rooms was that instead of the main feature being a computer, it was a tall stretcher bed.  Of course it made little difference to her what sort of features there were, ass long as she got an answer to her question.

"I wanted to know what your name is."

In truth she was expecting for him to just laugh and refuse to answer her question.  It wasn't like it hadn't happened before, but she found that she was about to be surprised.

She felt him stop walking as they neared the stretcher, and a hand came up to gesture her to get on to it.

Reiko held it steady on the other side as she got up onto it, not asking why.  She merely did as she was asked, and then looked up at the man's face.

His eyes were open wide with clear amusement, she could tell as he returned her gaze.  "Your right, usually a person asks that question first, but I'm sure that you are not the first person who hasn't done that."

As he spoke, Relena watched as his hand slipped into his jacket pocket, and came out holding a new syringe and a small bottle of clear fluid.

He noticed her watching him remove the syringe from his pocket with growing nervousness, and held it up a little higher so she could get a better look.  "Don't worry, it's just what we're going to use to put you to sleep."

She widened her eyes a little bit.  "Is that really necessary?  Couldn't you let me stay awake?"

"Unfortunately, it is a bit of a security issue.  We cannot have you accidentally finding out our location, and then telling your friends.  That would be rather embarrassing for us to allow something like that to happen when it can be so easily prevented."  He had unwrapped the syringe and was using it to draw the liquid out of the little bottle.

Watching him, and getting a little nervous, Relena asked, "Isn't there any other way to do that? Don't you have a pill I can take, or gas?"

He pulled the needle from the bottle, and gently flicked it with his fingers to remove the air bubbles.  "You don't have a problem with needles, do you?"

"No, no problem.  I just prefer to avoid them if at all possible."

"Don't worry," He placed his hands on her shoulders, and made her turn and lay down across the stretcher.  "It will be over in a minute, and I promise that it won't hurt."

Relena took in a deep breath, and prepared for the pinch that meant the needle had entered her skin. 

"Close your eyes, and I'll answer your question for you."

She obediently did as she was told, and clenched her hands at her sides.  She wanted the worst to be over.

"Now relax, it will hurt ore if you tense."

With effort, she managed to unclench her hands and will her body to relax.  Once she had, she felt his hand come to rest on the wrist closest to him.  His fingers gently massaged the skin on the inside.

"Do you have any ideas about what my name is?"

Of course, she hadn't expected him to ask her anything like that.  Keeping her eyes closed she spoke to him.  "If I knew that, I wouldn't be—oww!"

While she had been talking, he had surprised her and stuck her with the needle.  The pain was minimal, and had only lasted for a moment.  She had really been more surprised than hurt.

Her eyes had popped open, almost like a reflex, but as she tried to sit up to look at her wrist, the young man pushed her back down.  "It's a strong drug, you should be able to feel its effects soon."

He was right.  Relena could feel her eyelids being weighed down like lead weights, and she couldn't hold them open no matter how hard she tried.

As she stopped struggling to stay awake, and began to give into unconsciousness, she could hear his voice speaking in her ear.  It sounded like he was a million miles away, even though she knew he was right beside her.

"Now for my answer, Relena.  My name is Ekin Lowe, pleased to make your acquaintance."

Lowe. . . that name seemed like it should mean something to her, but her sleepy brain couldn't figure it out.  So Relena let go of all conscious thought and gently drifted into the waiting darkness.

*          *            *

Now that I have this done so far, I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you have to give.  I pretty much know where I'm going to go from here, but I would like to know what you think of this considering this IS my first posted fic.  Please be kind!!  ;)

Eden  


	7. Part 7

Disclaimer: Well, this is getting old fast.  I don't own Gundam Wing or any of the characters, because if I did I would be getting paid to write this (I wish!).  Anyways, I just wanted to say that this particular story does belong to me and so do any new characters that I happen to make up and throw in here.

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_Eternal Promises_

By Eden 

**Part 7**

No one moved for what seemed like an eternity after the screen went black.  They couldn't quite understand how all of this could've happened.  How is it possible that only two days after being kidnapped so efficiently, that the Vice Foreign Minister's captors wanted to release her with no conditions?

Zecks frowned.  Relena herself had told them the kidnappers wishes to use her to draw out someone else.  That they had not hurt her and were now releasing her was evidence that whoever it was had indeed come out of hiding.  Relena's safety concerned so many people that it wasn't surprising. 

Of course what everyone probably knew already, was that the person the kidnappers were trying to draw out was either himself or Heero.  No one else had been trying to hide their existence from the world like they had.

He shook his head and looked over at the dark haired young man who at the present time was turned away from him.  During the war he had seen this boy fight, and seen him die with no thought of how others would react to his death.  He had been the perfect soldier then.  One who fought and followed orders without concern for his own well being.

Well, that was what he had made them all believe.  That may have been how he fought the war in the beginning, Noin had told him Relena's stories about Heero's death threats, but he didn't need Noin to tell him that after a while those death threats stopped, and his reason for fighting changed.

Even while he and Heero competed for mastery over their mobile suits, Heero's mind was always focused on other things.  Now he was ashamed to think about it, but he had only been concerned about the fight, and about defeating the boy in the Gundam who would make him the ultimate victor.  It had always been Heero who had been thinking about the greater good, about the things he himself should've been thinking about.  Heero had always been the one who had protected Relena.

In some ways Zecks had never really deemed himself worthy to be her brother, or the one to protect her.  That may have been the reason why he had left right after the war, leaving her to believe he was dead, and then why he only returned during Mariemaia's coup-de-tat.  There couldn't possibly be any room in her life for a person who betrayed the beliefs of his family and whose hands were so stained with blood.

 Despite being his rival during the war, Zecks had never really hated Heero Yuy.  Instead, he had felt an understanding with him, especially when it came to his sister.

By now Heero had stepped forward, and had begun to type away on the laptop again.  A moment later he cleared the screen and turned off the computer.

Sally, who was standing on the other side of Noin, took a step forward, "Were you able to find out where they were?"

Heero shook his head, "The computer that sent the message here wasn't the computer that originated the message.  It was relayed by satellite link up, and is untraceable unless I can physically get to the computer."  For the first time since the screen went blank, he turned around to face the room.  There was a serious look on his face that seemed to appear anytime Relena or the kidnapping had been mentioned.

"The reason why the other precaution didn't work was because it was sent out by software that was homemade.  No locater numbers means that theirs nothing to trace."

"So basically," Duo said leaning against a nearby table with his arms crossed, "We're shit outta luck."

"Hn."   The look hadn't left his face, but had actually gotten worse.

Sally was beginning to look like she was formulating a plan of action.  Suddenly something that looked like hard determination flashed across her blue eyes.  "Well it really doesn't look like they've left us with any options.  We have no choice but to do as they have instructed, and get to Belgium by noon tomorrow so we can get Relena back.  After we have her back here, we'll have a few more options."

"How soon do we leave?"  Trowa had been standing behind the group, silently watching the events unfold.

Zecks didn't know about anyone else, but to him, the former Heavyarms pilot had always been the most unpredictable of the five.  The fact that he had come to Earth to join them on this rescue operation was proof enough to that.  He didn't even know if he had ever cared about or known Relena all that well, and yet here he was, eagerly asking when they were going to head out.

He would never cease to be amazed.

"We'll have to arrange for the transportation to get us there, but I'd say within the next couple of hours we should be able to leave."  Wufei straitened, and seemed to take charge of this part of the operation.

"Right," Sally agreed with her partner, "But before we rush into this, we really should think about who is going to go on this pick up.  We can't have all of us going and walking into what could be a trap, and not have anyone left for back up."

"The logical thing to do would be to divide ourselves up into two groups.  The first group will go in and secure the building.  If things are secure, then they will also retrieve Relena, and leave.  The second group is our back up for in case the whole thing is a trap.  They will be coming twenty minutes behind the first group, and if there are problems, they well move into position around the first group.  The only thing we need to do is decide who will be in which group."  Quatre seemed to have taken over in the strategic department.  He had devised a perfectly workable plan that would work well for the present situation.

Without meaning to, Zecks turned up the corner of his mouth in an amused smile.  He was impressed at the speed that this was all being accomplished, and glad as well.  They didn't have time to argue about the course of action.

"I'll go in the first group."

Now that had defiantly been expected.  Without turning to look, Zecks knew that it had been Heero who had spoken.

"I will as well."  He answered the young man, still without raising his head to look back.  "She is my sister after all."

He could feel Noin beside him shifting her weight.  "Well if your both going in the first group, then I'll go in the second group."  She leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "Someone has to watch your back."

That was enough to make him finally raise his head up to look at her.  She was too good for him.

Zecks had been telling himself that for years, and that was partially why he had left after the last battle of the Eve wars without so much as a good-bye.  He had thought that it would be best for her if she forgot about him and moved on.  Of course, when he had made his appearance during Mariemaia's coup-de-tat, and found that she had waited for him, he was secretly pleased.

She was perhaps the only woman in the world who knew about his tangled past, and didn't hold it against him.  She was the only person whom he could absolutely trust.

He nodded at her, catching her eye for a moment, and then looked back as Sally spoke.

"Well, you'll need someone with you, so I'll be in the second group."  The two women smiled at one another.

"I've never been one to stay back and let others have all of the fun.  I'm defiantly going in the first group."  Duo grinned his classic fighting grin.

"You'll need at least one Preventers member with you," Wufei said, something like determination flashing across his face.  "I'll go in the first group."

"I will too."  Trowa spoke up as everyone else had.

Sally crossed her arms, "Well that looks after the first group.  The second group will also consist of four more Preventers, and that should even things out."

"Now we have to contact Commander Une to let her know our plan, and to arrange transportation.  It should be a couple of hours before we're ready to go."  Wufei answered the unasked question of what they were going to do now.

Without waiting to see if anything else was going to be brought up, or discussed, Zecks watched as Heero started towards the door.

"Where are you going?"  He asked the young man, who seemed intent on retreating to the hallway.

"For a walk."  He answered without stopping or turning around.  "I'll be back in an hour."

As he closed the door behind himself, Duo pushed himself up from the table he'd been leaning against and took a step forward.

"Is it just me, or dose he seem even more murderous than usual?"

"Heero's realized the same thing that I have."  Zecks crossed his arms across his chest as he felt Noin put her hand in the middle of his back.  "He knows that the only two people that this group could be interested in drawing out of hiding would be one of us.  We were the only ones who were deep in hiding, and wouldn't have been easy to find."

"But why would anyone want to draw either of you out though?"  Sally had been packing up the laptop.

Zecks just stood where he was, without moving.  "That's the only thing that we need to wait to find out.  It could be for so many different things that I would hate to venture a guess."

"I suppose we'll worry about getting Relena back first before we get into that."  Sally zipped up the bag and looked around the room.  "Well, if you will excuse us for now we should go and report to Commander Une."  She flashed a smile, and then walked out of the room with Wufei following, deep in thought.

Duo didn't waste anytime.  A moment later he strode from the room with his hands crossed behind his head, muttering something about finding a vid-phone.

Quatra came over and began speaking with Noin about something.  Zecks didn't pay any attention.  He had walked towards the balcony doors, seeing that the sky was already dark, not surprising considering what time it was.  He reached out a hand to unlock the latch and push the door open.  He felt the cool wind ruffle his bangs and push his long hair up off of his shoulders.  Inhaling deeply he went outside and moved towards the balcony rail.

Something he never realized while he was up working on Mars was how much he could miss the Earth.  The artificial atmospheres of the colonies were carefully moderated to imitate Earth's weather, but the wind was never quite the same.

Taking another deep breath, Zecks allowed his head to drop as he gripped the cement railing with both hands.  'Relena,' He thought closing his eyes tightly, 'How could this happen to you?  I should've been there to protect you.'

Zecks lifted his head and opened his eyes, the stars winked down at him.  He spoke aloud, "Can you ever forgive me sister?"

"I doubt she thinks that there is anything to forgive you for."

Startled, he turned around to see Noin coming to stand beside him at the railing.  She looked over at him and smiled.

"I think that she would be more happy to see you than angry that you weren't here."

"But I should have been here to prevent this from happening at all.  What good and I to her if I can't even do that?"

Noin turned towards him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.  "In some ways I know your sister better than you do.  She wouldn't want you worrying over things that there is no use worrying over."

He sighed and looked over her face, taking in its subtleties.  "Your right, I don't know what she would say about my worrying of course, but your right about how you know my sister better than I do."

"You could do something about that," Her voice spoke into his ear.  "It wouldn't be that difficult."

"I know," He said, "But would she want me around now?  After I've spent so much of my life trying to stay away from her?"

He watched as she raised her eyes to look at the star splattered sky.  "I think that she would want the chance to know her older brother.  I also think that it would be good for her to know about the family she never had the chance to know."

She lowered her eyes to meet his once more.  "I think that you need to have someone who you can share your feelings with, and your past."

Zecks knew what she was saying.  It wasn't that she didn't care about him, but she knew that there were something's that he needed to share and explain to his younger sister.  Things about the decisions he made, and about the family she had come from.  It was something that he had wanted to do for a long time, but he had never felt like it was the right time.

"Sometimes," He said bringing his arms around her to hold her against his chest.  "I think you know me better than I know myself."

He heard her muffle a giggle into his shoulder, and then she answered, "It's cause I do."

Heero stood down on the garden looking up at the balcony where Zecks and Noin were embracing one another.  They looked so happy being in each other's arms, almost as if they were the only two people in the world who mattered.

A funny feeling came up and gripped his chest and he forced himself to advert his eyes.  What was wrong with him?  Ever since he had seen Relena's face on that computer screen he had felt something grip inside of him.  It was like he was in pain, but he wasn't.

Bringing a hand up to cover his eyes, he willed the feeling to go away.  Now wasn't the time to assess his feelings, it had to wait until Relena was safe.

Slowly he lowered his hand and raised his head to stair at the moon to clear his head.  "I can't allow my emotions to get in the way."

"Sure, I mean you wouldn't want anyone to think you were human."  A familiar male voice came from behind him.

Up until that point Heero had thought he was alone in the garden, but he had obviously been mistaken.  Had he really been out of the game so long that he had lost his edge?  Lowering his head, he turned around just enough to see a darkened figure leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Don't tell me," The figure spoke again, his face shadowed by the black baseball cap he wore, "That I managed to surprise the perfect soldier."

Heero looked back up at the moon.  "How did you find me, Duo?"

"I left right after you did, and it wasn't hard to figure where you would go, even if I hadn't been following you."  Heero listened as Duo stood up and moved away from the tree.  "I came to see how you were doing.  The tension in that room earlier was so thick you could cut it with a knife."

In the dark, Heero could feel a small smile creeping to his lips.  The braded pilot always had something to say to lighten his mood, and even though he would never freely admit this to anyone, whatever it was that Duo said usually made him feel a lot better.

When he didn't say anything Duo came to stand beside him.  "So what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, come on!  You must think I'm the biggest dumb-ass in the world!"  He shoved an elbow into Heero's side, "Your thinking about Relena, aren't you?"

If it hadn't been so dark, Heero would've been able to see the large grin on his face, but fortunately, he was saved this time.  Another annoying talent that Duo seemed to possess was the ability to peg his thoughts.  It was if he always knew what he was thinking about, even when he didn't say a word.  This time was no acceptation.

Duo sighed.  "Heero, I don't know why you torment yourself like this.  Why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

"I don't know how I feel thought."  He answered quickly.

"Do you care about her?"

He could feel Duo's eyes on him, and the careful scrutiny he was under.

"I-," Heero stammered, not sure what he should say.  On one hand he wanted to say yes; he did care for Relena, and get the admission off of his chest.  On the other hand though, he didn't know what it would mean if he opened himself up like that.

He could remember the advice that Odin had passed down to him the day he had died. 'Follow your emotions,' He had said. 'That's the only way to live a good life.'  Those words had gotten him through the war with his sanity intact.  He had been able to use them in every aspect of his life, except when it came to dealing with his feelings for Relena.

"Well?"  Duo prompted, his words interrupting his train of thought.

"I don't know how I feel about her.  I care about her, but I don't know what that means."  He told the braided pilot truthfully.

"You're joking, right?  I mean, she goes missing and you come charging in determined to get her back just like you never lift, and you expect me to believe that you don't know what kind of feelings you have for her?"

"It's not like I've spent a lot of time thinking about my feelings or her."

"Heero, how can you not think about her or how you feel?  Here's a girl who is beautiful, smart, powerful, and respected, who most importantly cares about you.  You're the luckiest man in the world, and you don't even want to think about it."  He shook his head as he said the last part.

Duo was right of course.  Relena did care about him even he knew that.  She had never done anything to make him think otherwise.  It had never been anything that she had done to keep him away, but rather how he was so unsure himself.

"She's a good person," Heero turned his eyes towards the ground, "And she needs someone who can look after her the way she deserves."

"As if you couldn't!"  Duo threw up his arms in aspiration.  "You've got to stop with this whole righteous soldier routine if you ever want to get anywhere with her.  You can only take that so far before you have to admit your real feelings to yourself and her."

Heero didn't answer.  He had stopped trying to come up with things to say to Duo, and instead was now concentrating on merely what he was saying.  Everything was true, he couldn't hide his feelings forever, but he didn't know when he would be comfortable enough to tell anyone what they were, if he could even admit them to himself.

Duo was continuing on, without pausing for breath.  "If everything goes well tomorrow, them you should be able to spend some time with Relena.  You know, even if you don't say anything about your feelings but just talk to her for a while, I think that it would mean a lot her."

His posture had grown rigid.  He began to think about things that could happen that would keep them from rescuing Relena.  Of course, there was always a risk of failure, but it wasn't helping matters to think about them all right now.  Still, he couldn't help narrowing his eyes a little at the thought of something keeping him from her, and made himself vow that he would do whatever he had to in order to ensure her safety.

"Of course we'll get her back without any problems of things go according to plan, and maybe even if they don't.  I've never been one to stick to the plane, after all.  I just hope that we're not to rusty at rescue missions."  Heero could hear the anticipation in his voice, and the confidence that they would be able to complete the mission.

It made him feel better to know the other pilots had confidence in their abilities as a group.  It had been a long time since there had been a chance for them to work together like this on a mission, and Heero was sure that the years apart wouldn't change the way they anticipated each other's actions.  That would help a lot if they were doing nothing more than walking into a trap.

Dup had been quiet for a long moment now, and the two young men had been standing in silence, both looking up at the silvery moon.  Heero was a little surprised at the braded pilots silence since he rarely ever stopped talking, but he put it down to pre-mission nervousness, not that any of the pilots had been know to suffer from it.

He had been so deep in though, that he didn't even notice when Duo turned his head to look at his face.  When he did see him out of the corner of his eye he asked him why he was staring at him like that.

"I was wondering if you guys ate anything on that long shuttle ride from Mars."

Heero thought for a moment, before answering that they hadn't been thinking much about food while they were in the shuttle, having been far to preoccupied with other thoughts.

Even in the dark there was no mistaking the large grin that spread across Duo's face.  "Well then you wouldn't mind accompanying me to the kitchen to see what sort of food we can rustle up, would you?"

That grin was contagious, and even Heero wasn't surprised when the corner of his mouth turned up slightly.  "Sure."

His grin only got wider, "Great!  I've been dying to sneak a peak at the sort of stuff they have in that great big kitchen downstairs."  He had begun to walk away back towards the house, listing off all of the things he hoped he could find in the cupboards.

Heero hung back for a moment and took one last look up to the night sky.  "I'm coming for you Relena, I'm coming to bring you home."

*          *            *

Alright, sorry if you thought that the last part was kind of a cliffhanger, but I seem to do that without thinking.  Just thought that I would mention to those of you reading this that I have started writhing part 8, but that it may take me a bit longer to put up than the other parts because I'm feeling sort of sluggish.  What you can do though if you want me to write faster is to send me those reviews to let me know what you think!  Comments and suggestions are welcome, and you have no idea how they make me keep writing!  Thanks to those who have sent them so far, but keep it up!  I want to know what you think!

Well, till part 8, bye!

Eden


	8. Part 8

Disclaimer:  If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, no I do not own Gundam Wing or the characters, and neither do a million other people just like me out there.  This story on the other hand is of my own creation and I take all the credit for it myself, along with any new characters that you may find in here.  Please don't take any offence to anything written, this is just for fun and entertainment purposes only.

_Eternal Promises_

By Eden

**Part 8**

The former colonel of the OZ Special Forces, Lady Anne Une formed the organization known as the Preventers after the end of the Eve wars.  She had done it in order to follow Treize Khushrenada's vision for the future, a vision of a world without war or fighting between the colonies and the Earth.

Since the organization's formation they had been very successful in the disarmament of both space and the Earth, as well as in the prevention of large conflicts.  The largest one to date had been the Mariemaia coup-de-tat, when Dekim Barten had manipulated his granddaughter to think that it was her right to be Queen of the World.  That was also why she had decide to kidnap the former Queen, Relena Darlian, and make the world watch as she passed on the title of Queen to Treize Khushrenada's illegitimate daughter.

Thanks to the intervention of the former Gundam pilots, Mariemaia's forces of mobile suits and mobile dolls had been wiped out without a single casualty.  Dekim himself had been assanated, and Mariemaia taken into custody.

Both Relena and commander Une had convinced the higher-ups that the young girl wasn't a threat to society, and that she had merely been her grandfather's pawn for his own ambitions.  Luckily, they had agreed with what the Vice Foreign Minister and Preventers commander said, and agreed to release her to live with foster parents.

That was when Anne Une had spoken up that she would take responsibility for the child.  The board of representatives, who had been appointed to evaluate the situation, hummed and hawed.  They questioned weather she would have enough time to spend with the girl because of her hectic schedule.  It didn't take her long to convince the board that she had plenty of time to spend with the girl when she wasn't busy with tutors and music lessons and any other activities that could be arranged to occupy her time.  The main point Lady Une kept pushing at, was that she would be able to show Mariemaia why the world was so much better off without war, and why it was the Preventers worked so hard to keep the peace.

It had been a good point, what better place to keep a girl who may have rebellious tendencies but with the commander of the forces in charge of keeping peace between Earth and the colonies? 

That had all been two years ago.  Everything had worked out for the best since then.  Mariemaia, now nine years old, was a normal child, and showed none of the power-hungry or resentful feelings that some had expected.  She was bright, playful, inquisitive, and always a handful for her tutors when she found that they didn't have answers for the questions she asked.

The only time she seemed any different from any other child was when she was in a situation with others her own age.  She didn't seem to know how to deal with them, herself having grown up among adults, and being treated accordingly.  She had no problems dealing with adults, but this was to be expected when responsibility was thrown on your shoulders at the tender age of seven.

A sigh escaped the commander's lips as she continued to stair out across the city from the window behind her desk.  She figured that the reason why these memories were coming back to her was because the last time Relena was kidnapped everyone's life was put at risk.  But as she kept telling herself as she listened to Preventers Sally Po and Chang Wufei make their report, she knew that this was not like the other time.

"Vice Foreign Minister Darlian informed us that the kidnappers were not interested in causing international incident, and that she was only kidnapped to get the attention of some other person."  Sally's voice rang clearly form the vid-phone.

"Did they say who it was they were trying to get to notice them?"  Lady Une turned around to look at her two operatives.

"No, they didn't give us any information about the target of the plan, but Zecks Merquise had his own ideas.  He believes that this group is after one of two possibilities: himself, or Heero."  Wufei's face was grim.

"Do you mean the former Gundam pilot, Heero Yuy?  I thought that he had been in hiding ever since the coup-de-tat two years ago."

A look of almost amusement passed over Sally's face as she answered her commanding officer.  "He's here now, he showed up the same time that Zecks and Noin did.  Apparently he had been staying with them and working up on the Mars Terri forming project."

It was Lady Une's turn to look amused.  "Ms. Darlian hasn't even been gone for two days yet, and all three of them came all the way from Mars?  They must've left as soon as they found out what happened and then come strait here."  She shook her head and muttered in tones too low for them to hear her, "For someone who tried to give the outward appearance of not caring, he sure shows up whenever she needs him."

"What was that commander?"  Wufei asked.

"Oh, nothing."  Her face lost all emotion, as she got back down to business.  "So tell me, what have you come up with?"

"Since the kidnappers designated the pick up time and place, Quatre came up with a plan involving two groups showing up.  One would go in first and secure the area.  If nothing was wrong, they would pick up Ms. Darlian and that would be that.  The second group is the back-up in case something unexpected happens."  Sally answered without wasting any time.  "We could send you the plan in writing if you need to know-,"

Lady Une cut her off.  "No, that's fine.  The most important thing to do right now would be getting Ms. Darlian back home with the least amount of problems.  If Heero's there, am I right to assume that the other pilots are there as well?"

Wufei crossed his arms and nodded. "We're all here."

"Good.  There is no need to send me the plan in writing until after we have her back home safe.  I'll arrange for a plane to meet you at the airport in about an hour or so, and you said you needed two vans?  One for each team?  They'll be waiting for you when you get off the plane in Brussels.  I assume that you will have all the supplies you need with that arsenal you brought to the Peacecraft mansion, am I correct?"

They both nodded, the guilty look in their eyes confirming what she already knew about the pair's love of explosives.

She shook her head and continued.  "Well, now that the important details are covered, is there anything else I need to know?"

They both shook their heads again.

"Alright then.  You will leave for the airport in and hour, so you should get everyone ready to go."

The two Preventers began to give Une a respectable salute, but stopped when she raised her hand.

"Just to let you know, I expect a full report from both of you when you get back form rescuing Ms. Darlian." 

"Yes ma'am."  Sally answered, nodding her head.

Her partner just scowled.

As she turned off the screen and dropped from the call, she thought about their current situation.

All the Gundam pilots, as well as Zecks and Noin, had come to assist in the rescue of the young diplomat.  It was almost unbelievable that these people, who were arguably the best mobile suit fighter and all around soldiers in the world, would come to help a single person.  Of course, there was more to it than just that, she was over simplifying things.

Relena Darlian was more than just another young girl in need of help.  She was the one person who symbolized peace for both the people of the colonies and the Earth.  She brought about peace talks between the two, and had dismantled numerous potentially dangerous situations through these talks before they had a chance to manifest themselves into anything more.

Most importantly, she had given the young pilot Heero Yuy something to protect when the colonies abandoned the Gundams.  The other pilots soon realized her ideals of total pacifism and they too began to fight for them.

Une doubted that Relena even knew how many people cared about her.  Lately, whenever she had seen the diplomat between meetings, she had noticed something wrong with her posture.

Now, Une knew that nothing had happened to her, because whenever Relena left her home there was at least one Preventer who accompanied her, and her house staff would've mentioned any injuries she had.  No, it wasn't a physical problem, it was more like something was weighing down her spirit.

She seemed fine whenever she was in the presents of friends, or just people she knew, but more than once when lady Une had seen her standing in a corner by herself, she saw how alone the young women really was.

It wasn't as if anyone could blame her for feeling that way either.  It wasn't like she had a lot of spare time for her friends from school, or even for her foster mother to come for a visit, even though it was what she really needed.  A person could only survive on work alone for so long before they needed real human interaction.

Une herself was fortunate to now have someone to go home to every night.  She never stopped thanking her lucky stars for Mariemaia.  Although she had days when she could be a complete brat, the little redhead was defiantly her reason for getting up in the morning.  

But who did Relena have?  Of course she was very close to one of her servants, an older man who was more like a grandfather to her than just a butler.  No matter how close she was to him though, the time came for everyone that they needed to find someone they could share their personal thoughts with, and someone they could feel completely comfortable around.

She turned back to look out at the city that was alive with the lights of buildings, blinking advertisements and cars zooming by on the roads.  "Oh, Mr. Treize if you could see this world you created I know you would be proud."  A warm feeling seemed to radiate out from her chest as she thought about the fallen leader of OZ who had captured her heart so long ago.

Even though he was gone, and Une would never have the chance to be with him the way that she had always wanted, she still had a piece of him alive in his daughter Mariemaia.  She had someone who made her feel needed, and that was exactly what Relena needed.

The cars headlights flashed by, regulated by the colorful streetlights.

Truthfully, there were only two people she could think of that could possibly fill this void for the young woman.  Her brother, the rogue pilot Milliard Peacecraft, and the very mysterious Gundam pilot, Heero Yuy.  These two men genuinely cared for her, and while one held back from her because of a blood stained past, the other stayed away because of unsure feelings.

Although she hated to think this way, maybe good things could come out of this abduction.  Perhaps it would be the right kind of push for both men to try and make themselves a part of her life.  It would probably be the best thing for all of them if that were to happen, given all of the situations.

She smiled to herself as she remembered the way Relena's eyes used to go all starry at the mention of the Gundam pilots name.  There had been no mistaking that look then, and even though she didn't have the same child like look about her, the feelings she had for the young man were undoubtedly the same.

Reluctantly, remembering who she was the Preventers commander turned back to her desk and sat down in her chair.  Even though she no longer went out in the field, there were always things that she needed to get done to make sure the operations 

 went on without a hitch.

As Lady Une contacted the airport and informed them about the current situation and about the flight that needed to take place in an hour's time, she couldn't help but say a little prayer.

She didn't pray to God, because she wasn't sure it would do any good.  She prayed instead to the group of five young men who had ended the war three years ago, and to the others who had helped them do it.  They were the ones who were off to rescue one of the greatest symbols of peace that the world had seen since the late pacifist leader of the colonies, Heero Yuy.  And even though she was sure they didn't need it, she wished them luck.

Trowa had been thinking about this long and hard, and had come to the conclusion that it was the only way.  Of course before he did anything drastic, he wanted to get someone else's opinion.

He opened the heavy door to the music room and took a step inside.

Quatre stood over by the far wall fingering the rows of instruments that were hung up there.  When the door opened the blond man raised his head and smiled towards him as he came in.

He walked towards where her stood.  It had fairly easy to find where Quatre would go.  It was the same place he always went whenever he needed to get away from things, as if the sight or sound of the instruments could draw the stress strait from his soul.

Although it had been a while since Trowa has seen his friend, he found comfort in the fact that he hadn't changed his habits all that much.

Trowa watched as the smile on the young man's face faltered and died when he saw that there was something on his mind.

"What is it Trowa?"

He had been thinking about the right way to tell his friend what he was planning to do, but realized now that the best thing to do would just be to come out and tell him.

"After we bring Relena home from Brussels, I'm going to find where the kidnappers base is."

"How are you going to do that?"  The shock of the statement was clearly written all over Quatre's face.  "Heero said that he couldn't track where the origin of the call was, because it was relayed by satellite link up."

"He said that he couldn't trace it unless he was physically at the computer.  I know that he won't want to leave Relena to do that, so I'll go for him.  Besides, we all know that I couldn't be the person these kidnappers would want to draw out anyway, so it's safer for me to go."

Quatre was looking at him closely, questions clearly written in his eyes.  "And how do you know where this computer is?  Heero didn't tell us where it was located, and Sally took the laptop with her when she left."

"I'm sure if I explain the situation, both Wufei and Sally would be willing to help me out."  His voice remained steady as he answered.

He was sure that they would be willing to help.  Everyone knew how Heero felt about Relena, and vice-versa, and if the way he was acting earlier was any indication of his feelings, there was nothing that would make him leave her once she was safe.  The reason why they would help wasn't because of the feelings between Heero and Relena, rather it was because he would usually be the one who would take up this task, but he would be busy this time with other matters.

"Actually I'm curious to know who is so interested in one of us that they would go to such lengths, risking international incident by kidnapping Vice Foreign Minister Darlian.  Whoever it is must have a personal vendetta."  Narrowing his eyes, Trowa continued on.  "Besides it would be in our best interests strategically to know where they are so that we can launch on offensive attack."

"Do you really think that it will come to that?"

"Who's to say what will happen."

Trowa watched the young man sigh.  He could understand Quatre's feelings; the war hadn't really been all that long ago, well at least not long enough for the memories to have faded.  The reason why they had fought then was so that they wouldn't have too ever again.  The thought of having to launch on offensive attack only drudged up memories of times passed that should be remembered not relived.

He himself had been enjoying life quiet a bit since things had settled down.  The circus life was never boring.  There was always a new routine or act to practice or an animal that needed extra training, or an unending list of other things.  Immersing himself into the lifestyle had been so easy after being a soldier and doing nothing but fighting for as far back as he could remember.  When he actually sat down to think about it, he realized how much more relaxed he was without having to always worry about the next mission, and not having to constantly look over his shoulder for enemies.

Trowa really had begun to like having Catherine around.  Her constant teasing and sisterly advice made him feel like he really did belong in this new world without any war.  She was who came to mind when he gritted his teeth against the thought of going to fight again after so long.

But that thought alone brought him back to his point.  If he was able to find the enemies' base then perhaps they could launch a pre-emptive attack, and could avoid whatever it was that they had planned.

Lowering his head and closing his eyes, he spoke softly, only loud enough so that Quatre could hear him.  "I don't want to fight again.  I just want this to end quickly without anyone getting hurt."

Before Quatre could say anything, the sound of the door opening made them both look up.

Wufei came through the door, and nodded at the two of them standing in the center of the room.

Without waiting for him to say anything, Quatre jumped right in with his questions.  "Did you talk to Commander Une?"

Trowa watched as Wufei came farther into the room and crossed his arms across his chest.

"We did talk to her.  She approved the plan you came up with, and is now arranging our flight from the airport.  We leave in an hour."  He spoke very calmly.

"Good."  Quatre squared his shoulders.  "We shouldn't waste anymore time standing around here doing nothing."

"Chances are we will have at least an hour to go over our last minute planes and preparations after we land in Brussels.  We just want to be at the drop-off point on time, not early."  Wufei spoke like someone who had been through all these procedures many times before.  "The last thing we need is to catch these people before they have a chance to drop off Vice Foreign Minister Darlian and leave.  Armed conflict at this point is something we want to avoid at all costs, especially if it might put Minister Darlian's life at risk."

"We have to get her back safe before we can make any other planes.  There may be things she can tell us about these people that might help us come up with a defensive strategy."  Quatre was obviously planning their next move in his head.

Trowa turned his attention to the very serious and to the point Wufei.  "Actually, I had a favor I wanted to ask you.  It has to do with our position against these kidnappers."

"What kind of favor?"  Wufei had always been one to do his own thing, following his own path or righteousness and justice.  Of course, breaking rules, no matter how honorable the cause, was something he simply would not do.

"I wanted to ask you if I could borrow that laptop you and Sally had set up for the transmission from the kidnappers."  He had strange looks being sent at him by Wufei who was clearly amused by the request.

"Why would you want to borrow that?  Are you planning to track them down yourself?"

"Actually, yes.  I want to find the computer that had been attached to the satellite link-up, and then trace the location of the original signal.  It's something that Heero would probably want to do, but he'll want to stay here and watch over Relena once she's back."

"If that's the reason, then sure.  There should be no problem with that."  He shook his head though, not completely satisfied with the turn of events.  "I think that it's a good plan, but shouldn't you think about bringing someone else along with you to watch your back?"

Trowa merely looked back at the young Preventer.  "I've always done well on solo stealth missions."

They all knew he was referring to the time he had infiltrated OZ as an elite mobile suit pilot.  Somehow he had managed to gain Lady Une's complete trust and along with that gained control over the mobile suits Mercurius and the Vayeate.  All of that had been accomplished on his own, and had gone without any hitches until the end when he had tried to stop Quatre from making a big mistake.

"Still, we don't know anything about these people or what they want."

"I agree," Quatre said, "It would be better to go with someone rather than alone for a couple of reasons.  I'll go with you."

Trowa shook his head.  "No, you can't.  It will be hard enough to cover for one of us not being here, and next to impossible with two.  Besides if anything happens they'll need as many people as they can get to protect Relena."

"I don't think that it's a good idea for any of us to be going off on our own right now.  We don't really know who these people are after.  It's just a guess that they're after Zecks or Heero.  It could just as easily be any one of us, and they might be waiting for us to split up."

"You could be right, but at least we can defend ourselves if anyone does come after us."  Trowa said reaching a hand up to scratch his shoulder absently.  "I'd hate to see what these kidnappers might do to our families, or friends if we don't cooperate with them."

He watched as Quatre winced at the thought of his sisters being hurt or worse.  He had never been able to bear the thought of others suffering because of his actions, especially his sisters.  "We can't let that happen.  We have to keep this within us without involving other people."

Trowa saw Wufei lower his eyes in agreement before he began to speak.  "I'll get that laptop for you from Sally when we get back from bringing Ms. Darlian home.  I think that it might be necessary to keep this on a need to know basis.  The less people who know the easier it might be for us to cover up Trowa's absence.  We could say that he was on Preventer business, and would be gone for at least a couple of days."  He seemed to be planning out loud to himself.

Of course while he planned, Trowa was listening and agreed with what Wufei was proposing.  Heero would be focused on Relena, as he should, and telling Duo was a liability.  It wasn't that he couldn't be trusted with the information, it was that when he knew, who would probably keep taking about it until everyone around knew where he had gone and why.

That was not what they needed this time, and if that were to happen, chances are there would be big problems with the kidnappers.  It would defeat the purpose of what he was going to do if they found out about it before they had a chance to make their move.

This is what was going through Trowa's head when Quatre finally cut into his thoughts.  He had obviously thought what it could mean for them if he did go, and had come to terms with it, even if he didn't like the idea of someone going off on their own.

"If everything about this is decided for now, I suggest that we get ready to leave for the airport, and find the others."

Trowa looked towards Wufei, who nodded, and then back at Quatre.  "Let's go."

*          *          *

Whew!  Well that's part 8, hope it was all you thought it would be!

Theirs just a couple of things that I wanted to say:  First off, I wanted to thank all the people who have actually sent me reviews, they are VERY much appreciated, and very kind.  (Haven't got any flames yet!  Knock on wood!)  Secondly, I wanted to apologize to all those who are reading this fic, and see that the genre says lemon, and you read it and see that there is none yet.  There will be soon!  I promise!  It should come up by about part 13 or so.  Sorry, but I have a lay out in my head, and that's about when it should be.

            Anyways, I'm working on part 9, and it should be up soon.  In the mean time, tell me what you think!

Eden


	9. Part 9

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Gundam Wing.  Damn, knew there was something else I wanted for my birthday!  Anyhow, even though I do not own the anime, I do own the rights to this particular fic and any new characters that I've come up with for it.

Enough with the pleasantries!  On with the story!!

__

_Eternal Promises_

By Eden

**Part 9**

Duo was restless.  He hated sitting still with nothing to do for hors on end.  It was something that had followed him from childhood and had been the primary cause of most of the trouble he had been in back then.

He shifted around in his seat and tried to get into a more comfortable position.  When he couldn't find one, he gave up and leaned back against his seat with a heavy sigh.  Usually in these situations he would go to sleep or find someone to talk to, but since he had slept the whole plane ride he couldn't sleep any more, and anyone who hoped to start a conversation with this crowd would have a better chance hoping for a miracle.

It wasn't like he didn't understand the reason for everyone's somber mood, it was normal to be a little nervous, or quiet before a mission.  Of course this wasn't like a normal mission, the peace between Earth and the Colonies could very well stand in the balance between the success or failure of this particular mission.

A smile spread across his face.  Oh well, just another day in the life of a former Gundam pilot.  It really did seem like the more things changed, the more they stayed the same.  Of course it wasn't like any of them had lead what would be considered 'normal' lives after the war had ended, and after the coup-de-tat when they had destroyed their Gundams.  It seemed that trouble followed them wherever they went and no matter what they did.

He looked back on his own life since the war.  Duo had started his own space clean-up company, and hired former soldiers who didn't know what to do with their lives.  He had trained them how to clear space mines, and got them removing debris from long exploded mobile suits.  When the junk was collected it was sold off to other companies to be used for the construction of other machines and shuttles.  Even though things had been going well for the business, and they had begun to expand the company to include shuttle repairs, Duo still received requests from certain rebel factions wanting a Gundam pilot on their side.

On some days it was enough to make him go crazy.  It was just one more way that he saw the ignorance of the people who hadn't fought in the war three years ago.  Even the ones who had fought then didn't understand the reasons why the war had been fought in the first place.  It was frustrating to think that they could've been fighting to protect people who didn't even understand what had been happening around them.

He thanked heaven for Hildi, the girl who he had met during the war while she had been involved with OZ as a soldier.  He had been living with her since the war had ended and had started up his current company with her help.  She was a wiz finding new buyers for the scrap his workers brought in, and he didn't know what he would do without her.

Duo let his mind slip to thoughts of Hildi.  That girl he had met years ago had grown into a beautiful young woman and sometimes he didn't know what he had done to deserve such a creature.

Her short dark hair had stayed the same; she told him that she could never let it grow long otherwise who would be able to tell them apart?  Her violet eyes still sparkled mischievously every once in a while, whenever she thought of a way to make the tedium of working life less.  She had been known to drag him off on spontaneous adventures like too the circus, or an amusement park.  Sometimes she got wild, her crazier ideas consisted of crashing a wedding and pretending they were distant cousins of the groom.  They still cracked up into uncontrollable giggles whenever thy thought about the confused look he had on his face when they came up and congratulated him.

He had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.  Looking around the van quickly he saw that everyone was busy with their own thoughts, and hadn't noticed his laughing.  Probably for the best anyways, he didn't feel like putting up with reproachful looks for the others.

Duo realized that in order to keep himself with a strait face he needed to think about something other than Hildi and their adventures.  He looked strait ahead to where Wufei was driving the wan, and saw the back of Zecks' platinum blond head in the passenger seat.

He wondered what sort of thoughts were going through the older man's head.  Not only was his younger sister kidnapped, but also he could have been the cause of the kidnapping.  He was probably carrying around a lot of guilt, knowing him to be like Heero in a lot of ways.

With a sigh he turned to look out the window at the rapidly passing scenery.  Relena was certainly lucky to have two men who could literally do anything to get her back.

As he thought about Heero, he snuck a look at the unruly haired young man beside him.  He was sitting with his head bent down and his eyes closed, the same way he had sat on the plane, unmoving.  Duo knew that even when he didn't look it, his friend worried about a lot of things.  Mostly though, it was about Relena, no matter how he tried to deny it.  Not that Duo could blame him for worrying about the young woman.  If anything were to happen to Hildi, he would most likely feel the same way, and go to the same lengths to ensure her safely just like Heero now was.

Since he had spoken with him last night after Relena's broadcast for the kidnappers, he knew that Heero did in fact have real feelings for the politician, not that their had been any doubt.  It wasn't about weather or not he cared anymore, it was about how he expressed those feelings to Relena.

He let out a sigh, if this was going to get done right, he knew that Heero was going to need some help.  Not that Heero would be inept at sharing his feelings; it was just that he might not know the right approach to take when actually telling her how he felt.  So the responsibility of helping him would come to him, not that he expected any different, and not that he minded in the least.

Duo snickered to himself as he suddenly got a mental image of Heero crooning up to a balcony where Relena stood swooning over his sweet words.  That, no matter how unlikely, would be a sight worth seeing.

While he had been thinking and laughing to himself, he hadn't been paying very much attention to what was going on behind him until he felt someone taping the back of his head.  Dup jerked his head around to see what it was.

Quatre was leaning forward in his seat, looking at him with what looked like mild concern in his eyes.  "What on earth are you giggling about Duo?  Did you forget what we're about to go and do?"

"Of course I remember.  I'm just trying to relax a little bit."  Duo grinned at the blond.  "You can't go on a mission all stressed out, otherwise you can't perform."  

"That's all fine and well, but couldn't you be a little more considerate?"  Quatre looked over at Heero who still had his head bent down and his eyes closed.

Duo looked over as well, and waited a moment.  He didn't give any indication of having heard anything being said.  He shook his head and looked back at Quatre.  "I think he's sleeping, he didn't even give me his death glair."

"Even still, you should try and contain yourself.  It's not really the right time for jokes."

"Yah, yah, I know."  Duo brushed off the comment and turned back around in his seat.

He sat there for a moment, just looking out the window.  He did understand what Quatre had been saying, but he hadn't been laughing on purpose.  It wasn't his fault that he thought about really strange things when he was board.

Crossing his arms across his chest, he leaned back in his seat.  This was defiantly one boring car ride, one of the most boring he'd been on in a while.  He turned to look at Heero again, and saw that he still hadn't made any move, and gave no indication he heard anything that had been said.

'Must be nice to b able to shut out the world like that.' Duo thought to himself, now occupying himself by staring out the window.  'I wonder what has him so engrossed that he's not even paying attention to anything else.'

Flames surrounded Heero, and he could feel them licking at the exposed skin on his arms and legs.  The heat was so suffocating that he found it hard to get enough air in his lungs to yell out in terror.  It wasn't as though he expected anyone to hear him, but he couldn't help himself.  Once he had gathered his wits about him, he slowly began to move through the flames, bringing his hands up to protect his face.  Doing this, he somehow managed to make it out into what seemed like a hallway, and felt like he might actually be able to make it out of the building in one piece. 

As he dodged burning pieces of debris on the smoldering carpet, he heard a voice calling out above the roaring flames.  Heero felt something grip inside of his chest at the realization that there was someone trapped inside of the building.  Without thinking twice he went in search of the voice's origin.  It didn't take long to find, they were in one of the rooms just off of the main hallway he had been traveling through.  The first thing he noticed when he went into the burning room was that the person who was trapped was a young boy who was no more then ten years old.

"No," Heero felt his mouth go dry.

He saw that a large support beam had fallen down from the ceiling and was blocking the boy's escape to the hallway.  The beam was burning, the flames high and hot, but even if that hadn't been the case; it was far too large to move with only one person.

As he watched, the boy, in his desperation had begun to kick at the large beam in an attempt to move it.  The only thing that he succeeded in doing was catching his pant legs on fire, and had to resort to using his shirtsleeve to pound out the flames.  Seeming disgusted with himself, the boy looked up and across the large beam and spied Heero standing their looking back at him.

As Heero watched, the boy's eyes widened as he saw someone had heard his shouts.  Suddenly, without warning, he made a gesture towards him, and shouted, "Get me outta here!"

When Heero didn't make any moves to do anything, the boy got impatient and pointed to an untouched piece of wood standing in the corner, away from the flames.  "Use that to move the beam so I can get out!"

Turning slowly, he saw the long piece of wood standing there, and moved forward to grasp it in his hand.  It was heavier than it looked, and he struggled to bring it over towards the burning beam.  He used another piece of debris to lean his piece of wood on to make a leaver.

After a moment of pushing down with all his might, he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere; the beam was just too heavy.

On the other side of the flaming beam, the boy's blond hair seemed to take on the same color as the flames.

"Go for help!"  He shouted at Heero, "You're not going to be able to move it on your own!"

Heero just stood there staring, unable to move, until the boy shouted at him again.  "Go and get someone!  Hurry!"  

Those words made him spring to life.  He had just turned around and was heading towards the hallway again, when he heard a loud crack.  He whipped his head around just in time to see another beam that had been engulfed by the fire overhead, come away from the ceiling.  As it fell, the boy looked up in time to issue a loud before he disappeared underneath of the burning wood.

"No," Heero whispered to himself as he watched the fire continue to consume the large wooden beam that now rested where the boy had once stood.  He strained his ears for any sound that would confirm the boy was still alive, but all he could hear was the roaring of the blaze.

"No," His voice rose a little louder as he moved close as he could to the burning beams without getting burned himself.  He leaned forwards, straining to catch a glimpse of the boy, but to no avail.  He couldn't see any sign of blond hair, clothing or exposed flesh.  He was gone.

"NO!" He shouted as loud as he could at the fire, willing it to give up its charge.  "NO!"

Again he heard the loud cracking sound, this time from right above him.  He looked up in time to see the flaming beam coming strait towards him before everything went black.

Heero's eyes popped open, and he silently gasped for air.  He instantly scanned his surroundings, and then sat back against his seat again when he realized where he was.

'It was just a dream.'  He tried to reassure himself, as he sat with his eyes open staring blankly out the front window of the van.  Of course it was a dream.  It was the same dream that he had been having for months now, that had slowly been growing in intensity until just the last few weeks it had begun to force him from sleep entirely.  Because of his unwillingness to repeat the disturbing images in his head for a second time on any given night, he had been working extra shifts for the maintenance department, earning more than one strange look from the night supervisor.

He hadn't realized until the day before how the dreams had been affecting him.  When Zecks and Noin both expressed concern for his change of mood and attitude, he had brushed it off at first, thinking that they were exaggerating.  On the long shuttle flight to Earth he had done a lot of thinking though, and had realized the truth behind their worries.

Reluctantly, he admitted that he had become more melancholy and reclusive then he usually seemed. He hadn't bothered to even keep up appearances by acknowledging Zecks and Noin with his weekly visit.

The worst thing about the entire situation wasn't just that he had been extremely reclusive and even more of a workaholic than normal it was the dream itself.  Every time he had it he seemed to wake up remembering something, something he knew was important, and then losing it a moment later before it could register in his brain.  It was beginning to be incredibly irritating, especially now when the only thing he could think of that sufficiently took his mind off of Relena was this horrible recurring dream he felt attached to somehow.

Raising a hand to massage his forehead he let his mind slip to Relena for a moment.  It was easy to bring up an image of her clear violet eyes and honey hair to his mind.  So easy and yet so hard.

How was he ever going to be able to face her in person?

Regretfully he turned his mind away from thoughts of her and opened his eyes to look around the van.  Everyone seemed to be engrossed with their own thoughts, and didn't notice his wandering eyes.

Heero found himself being curious about what they had all been doing over the last two years.  He was positive that they had all accomplished more with their lives then he had so far.

Glancing down at the watch on his wrist, he noticed by the time that they should be nearing the warehouse soon.  He felt his heart beat speed up with anticipation.  Almost there.

On the floor by his feet was a bulletproof utility vest that had everything he would need once they finally got there.  He picked it up and brought it up to his lap to re-inspect the equipment.

His hands went searching through the packets, his mind silent stock of everything he had.  One standard issue nine-millimeter handgun with three clips, there were three grenades only to be used as a last resort, and two cans of smoke screen.  Lastly, shoved into a Velcro compartment on the chest was a communication radio, and in the pocket below it was a small first aid kit.

Pleased with everything he found he started to pack it back up.  As he was doing so, he heard Wufei's voice from the front saying that they were about fifteen minutes away from their destination, and suggesting that they should get ready for when they arrived.

Zecks turned around in his seat and exchanged looks with Heero.  This was it, they were going to get Relena back, and there couldn't be any mistakes.

Heero was about to say something aloud when he was interrupted by the sound of his radio crackling to life, and Sally's voice coming through clear and strong.  "Team two calling team one, Come it team one."

The crackling of Velcro could be heard throughout the van as Heero pulled out his radio and answered "Team one here."

"Hello Heero, can everyone hear me?"

"They can hear you."

"Good.  Everyone remembers the plan, right?"

There was a scattered chorus of yeses from the men who were now going through their equipment like Heero had already done.

"Alright, so I don't need to go over it again, right?"

There was another agreeing chorus.

The sound of her sigh came clearly over the radio.  "Well I guess this is it then.  I don't think that I need to stress how important this is to any of you, so good luck."

"Over and out."

Without another word, he put the radio back into the Velcro pocket, and slipped the vest on over his black t-shirt and jeans.  Around him he could tell that the others were doing the same thing by all of the rustling of material, and zipping of zippers.

Clearing his mind, he looked out of the front widow of the van until he could see the warehouse coming up in the distance.  Very slowly and deliberately, he pulled his gun out from its pocket and held it loosely in his hand.

It wasn't much different from his own gun that he had tucked in the back of his pants, except that it probably hadn't taken a life yet.  Hopefully today wouldn't be it's christening.  He gently ran his fingers over the chrome barrel and sighed inaudibly. 

Duo leaned towards him, zipping up the vest.  "This is it, are you ready?"

Heero didn't turn to look at the braided ex-pilot beside him, hi didn't need to.  He could tell by his tone of voice that for once, he wasn't smiling.  The somber mood around the van was plain even to him, and he didn't do anything to change it.  This was an important mission that couldn't afford any screw-ups; they had to be prepared for whatever happened.

He felt the van pull into the gravel parking lot outside of the warehouse, and looked up to see the large building looming ahead of them.  Reaching into one of the many pockets of his vest he brought out a loaded clip and slid it into the handle of the gun with an audible click.

Wufei had stopped the van and turned around to look at the others in the back.  Heero exchanged a look of determination with the Preventers operative as he got up from his seat and opened the van's side door.

"I'm ready."

*          *            *

I know, I know!!  This part took way to long to get up!  This shouldn't be a problem for the next part though, I already have it written, all that I have to do is edit and type it up.  Now to find the time to do that, . . . 

Anyhow, hope you like this, and hope to hear from you all!!

~Eden


	10. Part 10

Disclaimer: No, although the thought has crossed my mind, I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters from it.  When I do, you will all be the first to know. ;)  Of course while I'm not able to stake any claim to them, I can say that I hold any rights involved with the original characters in here that I happen to think of or add. __ _Eternal Promises_

By Eden

Part 10 

Ekin stared blankly out the window, eyes not focusing on any of the scenery that quickly flashed by as they drove.  From the look on him face, one could easily assume that he was board, even tired of the tedium involved in driving and the lack of activity. 

Reiko leaned towards his younger employer and tapped him on the shoulder.  "Is there anything the matter, boss?"

The blond man turned towards him, an amused smile playing on his lips.  "And what would be the matter my friend?"

Sitting back against the soft leather of the limo's seats, the larger man shrugged.  "Nothing I suppose.  You just looked like you had something on your mind.  I thought that it might have something to do with Ms. Darlian."

"And why would you think that?"  Ekin closed his eyes in a slow blink.

"Why?"  It was Reiko's turn to smile.  "Did you think I missed those looks you kept giving her while she was sleeping beside you on the seat?"

"Those were merely looks of curiosity."

Reiko couldn't help but give his employer a hard time about the young female politician they had kidnapped and then returned home.  She was very beautiful after all, and had obviously stricken the young man's fancy, no matter how he tried to deny it.  "That was more than curiosity in your eyes.  If I'm not mistaken, I could swear that you were showing an interest in her."

He watched as the smile spread completely across Ekin's lips.  "Even if I was showing an interest in the Vice Foreign Minister, it shouldn't be that unbelievable.  She is a very beautiful young woman who is also very intelligent and unafraid to speak her mind."

"That's true."  An impression of how the younger man had enjoyed his brief exchange with the politician the previous day crossed Reiko's mind.  Even in the strange predicament she had managed to hold her own against Ekin and had done so in a way that made both of the men respect her power.

A hint of malice had come into the blond man's eyes, and Reiko noticed it only once he looked up to acknowledge him speaking.

"That's why she has so many admirers, and that's why she was the perfect person to use.  She is the one person who can draw out my quarry."  The malice had turned into something like hunger.

"You may have ruined everything by telling her your name though.  You realize that, don't you?  Everything was so well planned out, the right amount of information to tell her and the kidnapping, and how to finally send her back.  All of those months of careful planning could be worth nothing now if she remembers."  He shook his head.

Ekin waved his hand dismissively.  "You worry too much, dear friend.  The sedative had too firm a hold on her by that time for her to remember my name, and even if she does remember, it won't matter because it will be too late."

"That's assuming things run as smoothly as they have been so far."

"They have no reason to do otherwise."  He had taken up his earlier position of his arms crossed across his chest while staring blankly out the window.

"I think your underestimating the capabilities of all those involved."

"On the contrary, if they figure out what's going on, all the better.  My plan will unfold sooner than I expected."

Reiko thought he saw a wistful expression cross his employers face as he asked, "How can you be so sure of what to expect?"

Another smile came up and curled the corner of Ekin's lips.  "Because I understand the way they think."

Without being able to do anything but shake his head and sigh as the scenery outside the window continued to flash by.

After confirming the door was locked with firs a check of the handle that wouldn't budge, and a shove of his arm, Heero stepped back.  With a sudden surge of power, he planted his foot firmly by the handle and forcefully broke the latch.  Cautiously he stepped forward into the building, his gun pointed in front of him as he scanned the room.  As he moved in farther he heard someone come up behind him and Zecks' voice demanding answers.

"Status."

He finished checking the room but didn't turn to look at the other pilots now coming in.  "This one is clear.  I'm going to check the corridor to the right."

"Right behind you buddy."  Duo spoke coming up on his left side.

Heero managed a nod and a grunt of acknowledgment before heading off towards the darkened corridor.  As he went, he noticed that his body was making all the right moves without him having to think much about the right way to proceed.  It seemed as though he hadn't left this way of life completely behind him after all.

He and Duo moved through the hallway stealthy and alert for anything that could be a potential danger.  They checked every doorway and corner for any sign of the kidnappers or Relena.  When they saw that the hallway branched off in another direction, they silently agreed to split up.  Duo continued to go along the same hallway, while Heero investigated the new direction.

Taking more care now that he was on his own, Heero pushed open the first door that he came to, his gun trained on the interior.  It seemed empty, and further inspection only proved his first observation.  Where could she be?  He was beginning to feel anxious; there wasn't a single guard or trace of Relena yet.  What were these kidnappers trying to pull?

Coming upon the next door, he tried it with his hand and found it was locked.  Determination boiled in his veins as he used his shoulder to force open the small wooden door.  It gave easily under his weight, and he fell into the room with his gun drawn, and eyes quickly assessing the surroundings.  There were no enemies here; there was only a slender figure fast asleep on a blanket that had been spread out on the floor.

Cautiously he approached her, looking behind himself for anyone who might try to surprise him.  When he was beside her form he knelt down and shook her shoulder, watching her face for any reaction.  When she continued to sleep without stirring, he tried again, this time a little harder.

Her violet eyes remained closed; her sandy eyelashes fanned out against her cheeks that seemed to be unnaturally flushed from the sleeping drugs they must've given her.  He put the back of his hand against her forehead and checked her temperature.  She was a little warm but nothing he needed to worry about yet.

"Relena," Heero breathed her name in relief.  His initial check of her had revealed no bruises or scratches, but he would make sure that Sally did a complete check of her once they got her back to the Sank Kingdom.  

Taking another look down at Relena's peaceful face, he brushed a finger across her forehead and pushed away a stray strand of hair.  She didn't move, or seem to notice in her deep sleep.  It was strange, but seeing Relena like this, so relaxed and peaceful, was almost enough to make him forget where they were.  He could almost slip into a daze doing nothing but watching her until she woke up.  Suddenly he shook his head to rid himself of the thought.  Of course they couldn't stay were they were, their was no telling who was lurking around this place even though they hadn't found anyone yet.

After taking a moment to assess the situation again, and deciding on the best plan of action, he tucked his gun back into the pocket on his vest while he leaned down lower towards Relena.  Carefully he put one arm under the crook of her knees and with the other, cradled her body against his chest.  As he stood up, he noticed how light she was and how easily she rested against him.  Looking down at her face, he saw a content look move across her lips.

There was nothing more Heero wanted to do then look down and loose himself in her face, but not now.  There would be time enough later on when there was no risk of being found or caught by the enemy. 

"Let's get you home, Relena."  He spoke to the sleeping girl as he turned towards the door.

As he looked out the doorway, carefully leaning forward to look around the corner, he saw Duo dart around the corner towards him.  Heero allowed the braided pilot to see where he was standing with his charge.

"So you found her."  Duo strolled over once he saw the hallway was secure.  He tapped the radio that was strapped to Heero's chest once he was close enough.  "If you would've had your radio on you would've heard that the rest of the building is secure.  It seems that the kidnappers were true to their word, and kept this strictly a drop off."

"I see."  Heero narrowed his eyes.  "Well then all that we can do right now is get Relena back to the mansion.  We can all talk more there, and it will give Sally a chance to look her over." He shifted the bundle in his arms slightly.

Duo nodded.  "Good idea."

They made their way back to the large front room of the warehouse where everyone was waiting.  Upon hearing the two of them approach they looked up and allowed an obviously concerned Zecks to move through them.  Once he was standing in front of Relena, Heero stopped walking and allowed him to place a hand on his sisters cheek.

"Drug induced?"  He asked Heero without looking up.

"Most likely."

He moved to feel her forehead.  "She's a little warm."

"A slight fever caused by the drug induced sleep.  I'm going to have Sally check her out fully once we get back to the mansion."

"Humm."  The older man's lips tightened.  "Let's go."

Without another word he turned and stalked out the door.  Heero followed, his eyes narrowed with his purpose.

Quatre came up beside him and matched his pace as they moved towards the van.  "How is she?"

"Other than the fever, fine as far as I can tell.  There are no marks on her from what I can tell, and her sleep seems peaceful enough.  The kidnappers seemed to have stayed true to their word so far."

The blond man sighed and seemed to relax a little as he snuck a glance down at the young woman.  Heero caught the movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Hn."  Unlike some of his teammates, he wasn't about to trust these kidnappers just yet.  He shared Zecks' sentiments about being cautious and prepared for anything they may get thrown at them.  For all they knew, Relena could be poisoned or worse.  Without realizing it he held the sleeping girl closer.

As they reached the van they had come in, he stopped and contemplated what they were going to do with Relena.  There wasn't enough room for her to lie down, so after a moment he decided to put her sitting up.  As gently as he could, he placed her on the middle seat by the window where Duo had been sitting earlier, and pulled the seat belt around her.  Once he had sat down beside her an done up his own seat belt his eyes wandered over to look at her face again.

Her expression hadn't changed, she still looked content to be sleeping, with her hair falling across her forehead in a honey colored fan.  As he watched, her head began to slide down to rest on her chest in an uncomfortable looking angle.  He knew that they had quite a long drive ahead of them and that if she stayed that way for the whole trip she wouldn't be able to move her neck when she woke up.

He hesitated for a moment before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him, and made sure her head was rested on his shoulders.  Relena seemed to let out a gentle sigh though still deep asleep.

When he forced himself to look away he caught Zecks' eye in the review mirror.  The older man, who had always been protective of the younger sister he barely knew, and who had fought ruthlessly with Heero during the war, had a strange trust of the two together.  Heero could see it in his eyes as plain as day.   It was as if he knew Heero would protect her the same way he would.

Understanding the mans look, Heero turned his eyes downwards a bit to see that the honey head had moved down a little off his shoulder, and was resting on his chest.  She had begun to sag in her seat, and her body was in what looked like an uncomfortable angle.  Without thinking twice he tightened his grip on her shoulders and brought her body closer to his.

He saw the knowing look in Zecks' eye and didn't know why until he realized what he had just done.  Heero couldn't remember being openly affectionate with anyone before now, and he was surprised he had done anything this time without even realizing it.  Of course now was not the time to be denying his actions, not after everything that had happened.

Hardening his mouth into a hard line, he looked up again at Zecks and gave his head a stiff nod.  There was no way he was gong to let anything happen to Relena, and he would never again bring himself to think of her the same way as when they first met.  The older man seemed to understand the meaning of his look and smiled.

Wufei had started driving, and was maneuvering the large van back onto the road going back to the Belgium airport.  As they drove Heero could hear Duo making choking noises in the back seat, obviously frustrated that Quatre was making sure he didn't say anything.  The normally stony faced young man was finding it increasingly difficult to suppress a smile at the thought of the talkative American being forced to be quiet.  Well better Quatre then him.

Allowing a sigh to escape his lips Heero leaned back against the seat.  With his eyes closed he allowed the movement of the vehicle to slowly relax his tense muscles and clear all the thoughts that were giving him stress.  It wouldn't be long until they made it to the airport and got on the plane back to Sank Kingdom.  He knew that he would be more at ease once Relena was safely in her home and surrounded by Preventers.  Of course, after what happened the first time, he didn't completely trust them either.  That was why he was going to take personal responsibility to make sure she wasn't left alone for any length of time, and that the people she was with were trust worthy.  He wasn't about to have a repeat of this rescue mission if the kidnappers suddenly decided that their orders or directions hadn't been followed the way they thought they should be.

Absently, Heero hugged Relena's shoulders tighter as he thought about someone trying to take her away again.  Resolve washed through him like ice water as he promised himself that he wouldn't allow it to happen again.

'I will protect you.'

Reiko stood back against the wall as he watched Ekin stair out the large windows behind his desk.  It was the same routine every evening since they had taken up residence in this new base.  Ekin would sit there in his chair and watch the sky set on fire by the fleeting rays of the setting sun.

Sometimes he would sit there without saying anything and just stair out the window, while other times they would have conversations about things like the plans he had after they had kidnapped the Vice Foreign Minister.  They had discussed so many plans during this time that Reiko had almost began to think of this time as a sort of personal meeting with just the two of them. 

As he watched the young man's hair take on the orange glow from the light coming through the window, he thought about his reaction earlier to questions about Ms. Darlian.  He hadn't come right out and denied any interest in the young woman, but he had stated a good point about what an unreachable woman she was.  She did have multitudes of admirers and was constantly surrounded by security teams who never let anyone within reaching distance of her.  That was why she had been able to catch Ekin's attention to easily.  The rare chance to see Relena Darlian in true form without the added intimidation of her bodyguards.

A small smile had come across the young man's face as he continued to watch the sun sink lower into the horizon.

"What do you find so amusing?"  Reiko crossed his arms across his chest as he watched his employer.

He didn't answer for a long moment, and just continued to stair out across the landscape.  When he did finally speak, his voice seemed detached somehow.

"I watch this sun set every evening, and each time it seems a little different.  The scattered clouds might change the way the colors go across the sky, or a storm either in the morning or evening, could make things look either more red or more purple." 

"That's to be expected because the world is constantly changing, things are never the same from one moment to the next."

"I understand that very well.  The point I was trying to make was that everyday I enjoy seeing the changes that happen, but for some reason today I am not able to pay attention to the changes in the sky."  He had brought his fingers up in a steeple before his eyes.

The situation was just too amusing, and Reiko couldn't contain the low chuckle that came from his chest.  "It would seem that you have other matters on your mind which are preventing you from enjoying the sunset.  Perhaps if you quit denying your feelings to yourself, you would be able to concentrate again."

Ekin's smile turned thoughtful as he tapped his fingers together.  "You may be right.  I should quit denying my feelings and begin to use this situation to my advantage."

"And how are you planning on doing that, Sir?"

"I'll just proceed with the plan we have and then if I meet with any resistance, I will use what they most care about against them.  The best thing about this new part of my plan is that there won't be anything him or his little friends can do to stop me once I have captured the Vice Foreign Minister and her heart throb." 

It was Reiko's turn to be thoughtful.  His employer seemed elated at the prospect of this new plan he had come up with, and he doubted that anything would persuade him to abandon it now.  He knew what the young man's plans were, it wasn't hard to read someone he had been with for so many years, and he knew that no one involved would be getting off easily.

"Are you sure it's going to work the way you want it to?"

"Don't worry about that my friend, everything will go according to my plan.  I told you earlier that I know the way they think, I can plan for any response they might give me."  Ekin tilted his head to the side a bit and seemed to be contemplated something.  After a moment he turned and looked up.  "The only one who I can't completely prepare for is Relena Darlian.  The manner in which she handled herself here was, although pleasant, a shock.  I would've pictured her being more docile and passive then she was.  I had no idea what she would be capable of if she was suddenly threatened."

Reiko cocked an eyebrow.  "So she's your wild card?"

"Precisely."

"And how are you going to control her then?"

A grin spread across his lips.  "I'm going to leave her without a choice.  She will be forced to do whatever I ask of her, which will be no small favor."

"Is this really what you want to do?"

"Oh yes."  An almost primal look passed over his eyes.  "I've had enough years of pain to be sure of anything."

*          *            *

So, . .  Tell me what you think!!  I like to get input from you who are reading this cause it makes me write more!!  My e-mail is eden888@hotmail.com

What seems to be getting pretty standard is my promises for more as soon as I get it written and typed up.  Really!!  I won't make you wait unnecessarily long!!  

Well, till part 11, C'ya!!

~Eden


	11. Part 11

Disclaimer :  I don't own anything!  Please don't sue me!  I claim no rights to GW or the Gundam boys, but I do claim all rights to this particular idea and all original characters that I just throw in here.  ^_^ __ _Eternal Promises_

By Eden

Part 11 

Relena opened her eyes, and immediately had to close them against the bright sunshine.  A groan escaped her lips as she brought a hand up to cover her face.  She felt like she had one time after having too much wine at a dinner party.

Instantly she heard voices around her.

"Relena?  Are you awake?  Can you hear me?" A female voice asked from beside the bed.

Again Relena opened her eyes, this time shading them with her hand.  She managed to pull her hand away after a moment and looked up to see Sally smiling at her brightly.

"How are you feeling, Relena?"

Her eyes moved, quickly taking in her surroundings.  _I'm home_.  She thought feeing suddenly giddy and smiling back at the woman.  "Good now that I'm home."

Now that her eyes had adjusted to the brightness in the room, she tried to push herself into a sitting position.  Sally helped her by putting pillows behind her back.  Once she was propped up against the headboard, she looked around at the other people standing around her bed, and smiled shyly.

Her brother Milliardo stepped forward, towards the bed, and leaned down to hug her tightly.  Surprised at the appearance of the man she hadn't seen for three years, she returned the embrace.  She was grateful for any human contact that proved everything wasn't a dream, but was especially glad that her only living relative was here as well.

"We were all worried about you, Relena."  Milliardo spoke once he'd loosened his hold on her shoulders.  "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

The shock hadn't worn off yet, so when she answered his question she did so in a happy tone.

"No, they didn't even lay a finger on me."

When he let go of her and stood back a bit, she saw that her answer seemed to relieve the look of apprehension that had been on his face.

Again she realized that there were other people in the room gathered around her bed.  Slowly she moved her eyes around the room and looked at them all gratefully.

"Thank you all very much for all that you've done.  I don't know if I can thank you enough for bringing me home again."

Quatre ran a hand through his blond bangs as he smiled at her.  "We're just gland that we could do something to help you, and that your not hurt."

Everyone seemed to be here: Quatre, Wufei, Duo, Trowa, Ms. Noin, Sally and her brother.  She frowned when she saw who was missing.  As she was about to ask about his whereabouts, a wave of dizziness came over her, forcing her to bring a hand to her head to steady her vision.

She could feel Milliardo take hold of her shoulders.  "Relena, what's wrong?"

She hadn't realized she'd closed her eyes until the strong grip released her. When she opened them it was to see Sally sit down on the bed beside her.  Gently the woman took Relena's face in her hands, and turned it from side to side while asking what had happened.

Relena could see concern flashing through everyone's eyes.  Not wanting to cause unnecessary worry, she forced a smile.  "Oh, I guess I'm just tired."

Sally dropped her hands from Relena's face and stood up.  "You should get some rest, that would help you out.  You've had a hard couple of days, with the stress and the sleeping drugs."

"Thank you."  Relena looked up at the woman.

"No problem, you just focus on getting better."  She gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before getting up to face the others.  "Alright everyone, let's go for now and give her a chance to rest."

Nodding their heads in agreement, they all waved and wished her pleasant dreams before filing out the door and into the hallway.

Relena watched as Sally waited for everyone to leave and then gave her head a nod in the direction of her balcony.  "Make sure she gets some rest."

"Hn."

She closed her eyes as her breath came in sharply.  There was only one person she knew who could sound so hard and unemotional, even under the most stressful situations.  She honestly hadn't thought he was still around, when she hadn't seen him earlier.  Slowly she opened her eyes and looked in the direction the voice had come from.

The sight of Heero standing against the wall by the balcony doors was a sweet shock to her senses.  The brief glance she'd had of him over the computer hadn't done him justice at all; he was much better looking in person.  A smile crossed her lips as she took in the characteristic messy brown hair that hung in his eyes, while he continued to stand in one place, his arms crossed over his chest.  The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

After the door clicked shut, signaling Sally's departure, Heero looked over to meet her gaze.  Neither of them did anything for a long moment, except regard each other carefully while taking in every detail.

Having seen the small changes in his appearance, and nervously smiling, Relena found her voice.

"I thought that you had already left."

He shook his head stiffly.  "No, I didn't leave."

The uncomfortable silence willed the room once more.  It seemed that they were both at a complete loss for words.  It wasn't that she didn't have anything to say, it was that she had so many things she wanted to ask Heero she didn't know where to start.

After a moment of running through her mind all the things she could ask first, she started with the most basic of questions.

"Where were you all this time?"

"A lot of places."  He took a hand and pushed it through his ever-wild hair.  "I was on Earth for a while after Mariemaia's coup-de-tat, and then went back to the colonies." 

Relena could see that he was trying this, trying to be open with her, but he was having a hard time relaxing.  Motioning towards a chair standing in the corner of the room, she smiled at him.  "Why don't you come tell me what you were doing in the colonies all this time.  I would very much like to know how you've been getting along."

Understanding what she wanted him to do, Heero nodded slowly and retrieved the chair.  Once he had placed it fairly close to the side of the bed, he sat down to face her.

"I didn't do anything exceptionally exciting once I made it back to space."  Relena saw him stiffen up a bit as he started to speak, but he began to relax a bit the more he talked.  "I thought that since I'd spent enough time fighting I should try to live in the new world, and so I enrolled in school again."

The almost expressionless look he had on his face faded once he mentioned school.  Before she could ask him what was wrong, he had gone right on talking.

"Going to school during the war had been different then after," He went on, not quiet meeting her gaze as he did so.  "I hadn't really paid much attention back then to the things going on around me, because I was always busy worrying about strategies and missions.  Once I didn't have to worry about that any of those things, I started to pay attention to all the people around me, and I saw how ignorant they really were about the war."  When Heero did look up he had anger burning in his eyes that caused them to swim with darker shades of blue.  "Most of them don't even understand the true conflict behind the war, or why it had been fought in the first place."

Relena listened to all he had to say and nodded her head in agreement.  "Your right, most people don't know the real reasons behind the war.  Even many of the new leaders don't have a clue, but don't you see?  It doesn't matter.  The reasons behind the war only fuel more hate and more fighting.  If the real reasons are forgotten, but if the lessons remain, then the war served its purpose."

"Knowing that doesn't make the reality any less frustrating."  His face remained the same as he continued to stair at her.

Not really wanting to see him like this now, she tried to take his mind off of the conversation by changing the subject.  "What else did you do while you were up in the colonies?"

Heero seemed to think about the question for a moment before relaxing and answering.  "After I decided that school wasn't what I wanted to do, I took odd jobs that moved me around a lot, until I ended up working maintenance for the Mars Terri-forming project."

"You met with my brother and Ms. Noin their, right?"

 He nodded.  "It seems that they have been helping out on the Terri-forming project since they disappeared two years ago."

"It sounds like you must've spent some time with them while you were there."

"Some."  Heero agreed.  "Noin invited me over at least once a week for dinner.  She was worried I didn't eat enough."

She couldn't help but grin at the last comment.  This was turning into quite an experience itself.  Relena couldn't remember a time when they had spoken like this. The conversation was so relaxed and comfortable that she had to remind herself whom she was speaking to.  She wanted to take this moment and seal it in her mind so that she would never forget it.

"At least someone looked after you.  I think that you'd be apt to just forget about meals and work through whatever project you were involved with, without so much as a break."

To anyone besides the people who knew this young man, it would've seemed like his expression hadn't changed.  Of course knowing him like she did, Relena noticed the guilty look that came to his eyes.  She was just about to ask him another question when she felt another wave of dizziness that forced her to raise a hand to steady her head.

Heero was at her side in a moment.  With his hands gently resting on her shoulders, he guided her to lean back against the pillows.  After taking a few deep breaths Relena was able to open her eyes and lower her hand.  As she looked up, she caught the concern in his Prussian eyes, and her heart melted.

How many times over the past two years since he went away did she imagine him looking at her like that?  How many times had she dreamed he would come to hr and let her know that he cared?  She had thought about both of these things so many times that she had almost begun to think she was crazy.

That was before all of this happened.

"Are you alright?"  He was leaning over her while staring into her eyes.

"Yes."  She couldn't lie to him even if she had wanted to.  It was as though he was gazing into her soul.

They stayed there like that for what seemed like forever.  Neither of them moving, and barely breathing.  Suddenly Heero moved one of his hands to her forehead.

"What are you doing?"  Relena asked finding her voice finally.

His face was devoid of any emotion that he had been showing just moments before.  "You had a slight fever when we found you in the warehouse yesterday afternoon.  It seemed to burn itself you by the time we got you back here, but I wanted to see if it came back."  He relaxed after a moment.

"Well?"  She questioned.

"You seem to be fine," His gaze softened as he looked back at her.  "Besides needing some rest, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong."

"Does that mean that you're going to make me go to sleep now?"

Heero moved back a bit and looked at her carefully.  "I'm not going to make you, but I think that you ought to.  You've been through a lot, the rest would be good for you."

"Alright."  Relena stared back at him.  "I'll get some rest, but I'd like to say something first."

"What's that?"

Something about the way Heero was looking at her made her hesitate and then stumble over her words.  His eyes were burning into hers with a little too much intensity.  "I -," She started, suddenly feeling nervous.  "I – I wanted to say thank you for coming.  It means a lot to me."

As he continued to stair, Relena felt herself blushing furiously, and turned her head away from his gaze.  It was almost a full minute before she saw movement out the corner of her eye, and turned to see Heero raising her covers around her shoulders.

When she looked into his face, there was no indication that he was upset or withdrawn.  He looked rather thoughtful, which came as nothing less then a surprise to Relena, considering what she had just told him.

"You really should get some rest now," He repeated taking a step back from the bed.  "You've had a rough couple of days."

"You're not leaving, are you?"  She asked quickly.  "Are you still going to be here when I wake up?"

Heero had turned around as if to walk away, but instead of heading towards the door, he pulled the chair he'd been sitting in before closer to the bed and sat down.

Relena let out a sigh when she saw this, and smiled as he spoke again.

"I'll stay here while you sleep.  It was decided that this would be the best thing to do while we have no idea what the kidnappers are up to."

"Even though they have no interest in kidnapping me again?"  She felt her look turn to one of amusement. 

"You don't know that for sure."  Heero crossed his arms across his chest as his expression turned stony.  "All that you know is what they told you, and what makes you think they would have any reason to tell you the truth?  They are the ones who kidnapped you in the first place."

"That's true, but they also let me go, just like they said that they would."

She knew she had a point, but Heero refused to relinquish his position on the matter.  "We have no idea what their true intentions are, so we need to be as careful as possible."

He turned his eyes towards the floor after that, and seemed lost in thought.  It was just the same way she had found him several times during the war, while he and Quatre had been staying in the Sank Kingdom.  Relena had come to associate this expression to things that made him worry, which would of course explain why he had always looked this way during the war, but did this really warrant all this worry?  Concern surly, but the kidnappers weren't even interested in her, they were after someone else they had said would come out of hiding with the announcement of her disappearance.

Of course!  The many pieces in her mind seemed to snap together like a jigsaw puzzle, the picture becoming clear.  Heero must know who the kidnappers were after, or at least have an idea.  Knowing the way his mind worked, he was most likely trying to find a way to handle the kidnappers without involving the unknown person in question.

Relena stifled a yawn with her hand, and turned her eyes to look at Heero once again.  Still deep in thought, he didn't seem to be making any moves to leave his position in the chair.  Even though she was fairly sure she would be safe in her bedroom by herself, it made her feel more at ease to know Heero would be close at hand just in case.

A smile forming on her lips, she snuggled back against the pillows and closed her eyes.  As she slowly felt herself drift off into oblivion, she realized that she felt a way that just a few days ago would have been impossible.  She was utterly and completely at peace.

When Heero looked up finally, he was surprised to see that Relena had already fallen asleep with a slight smile turning up the corner of her lips.  Something about the way she looked while she was asleep made his heart feel at ease.  Perhaps it was the fact that when she was sleeping in her own bed she was away from harm.  That probably had a lot to do with it.

She seemed more relaxed today while in a natural sleep rather than a drug induced one.  This was good; because he knew she was going to need all the rest she could get to prepare her for tomorrow.  She was going to get the chance to tell them all about what had happened to her while she had been held by the kidnappers.  He knew that their would be all kinds of questions, and that she would have to go over everything more than once to make sure she didn't leave out any details they could use later.

From the chair he was seated in Heero watched as Relena's brow's knit suddenly as she dreamed, and then relax as though everything was fine.  He fought the urge to reach for her hand, and reassure her while she slept.  The last thing he wanted to do was wake her up now that she'd just gotten to sleep.

In order to take his mind off of the alluring figure under the covers, he began to look back at their earlier conversation.  Heero was rather surprised that it had been so easy to tell Relena about what he'd been doing the last two years.  He had never been able to do that with anyone else before.  It was as thought he found comfort in confiding in her, it made the weight on his mind less with someone to help share the burden.  Of course just the fact that she made him feel so comfortable was a dangerous thing for both of them.

No matter what Relena said, it was always a possibility that the kidnappers could make another attempt to get at her again, especially now that they were fairly positive who their targets were now.  Anything could still happen to her if he or Zecks didn't find a way to stop them.

_I'm wanted to say thank you for coming.  It means a lot to me._

His jaw locked.  He never imagined that he might be causing more problems for her by coming back now, but it seemed that he was wrong.  Of course, he couldn't leave now without putting her in danger again either.  What a dilemma. 

This was not the way he had pictured coming back, and yet it was undeniably happening.  He could be putting her very life in danger by just knowing her.  Undoubtedly Zecks was thinking the same things right about now.  They had to come up with a strategy to keep Relena safe incase of any more advances by the kidnappers.  The first thing that he needed to do was to keep his mind on protecting her.

Making sure his emotions were in check when he was around Relena was going to be difficult, especially when he had found himself slipping so many times while they had been talking earlier.  There were things that he had wanted to tell her, but seeing as the situation was escalating, he would need to wait until things had been dealt with.  The thought of asking the others for help during the nighttime watch had crossed his mind, but he had quickly dismissed it.  Guarding Relena was his responsibility, and he wouldn't make the others burden themselves with it as well.  He just wanted to know that they would be around if anything were to happen.

The thought of what had happened to Relena while she had been with the kidnappers had been on his mind for a while now.  He hadn't asked her any questions about it though, because he knew she would be explaining everything soon enough.  Of course the fact that she didn't even seem upset about the kidnapping anymore told him all he needed to know about how she'd been treated.  For some reason, this worried him, it had not been like a normal kidnapping at all.

In all the cases he had ever heard of, even if the kidnappers took someone other then the objective, they never returned the first victim without some kind of trade off.  What these people were playing at was completely unknown and, even if Relena disagreed with him, it made them even more dangerous.

Sneaking another look towards the bed, Heero saw that Relena hadn't moved and was still sleeping soundly.  It wasn't all that surprising considering all of the drugs they'd given her over the past few days.  It didn't escape his notice that even though she'd been through so much in the last little while, she still managed to look beautiful.

He turned his watch up to look at the dial.  There was a good six or seven hours until Relena would wake up.  Pulling his gun out of the back of his pants and resting it on his knee, Heero settled himself in for the rest of the night.

*          *            *

Thank you to everyone who is still reading this fic!  I really appreciate it.  I know it's been a long time already that this has been a work in progress, but not to worry!  I'm still working on it, and have no intention of giving up in the middle!  Chapter 12 is being written as we speak, and will hopefully be longer then this one, but no promises yet.  -_-

For anyone who might be wondering, I do really like all the reviews that I get, and hope to get more, just to tell me if things are still going the way you want them to.  ^_^  You can e-mail me at eden888@hotmail.com, or leave me a review on  in the fanfiction section.

~Eden


	12. Part 12

Disclaimer : I do not own Gundam Wing, contrary to what I may believe in my own little world, and don not own any of the Gundam characters.  Of course I do take credit and ownership to this particular story and any original characters that I decide to throw in. __ _Eternal Promises_

By Eden

Part 12 

She was alone in the darkness with no feeling except for the cold metal where she sat.  There were no lights, no people, and no warmth.  She was completely alone; it was just her and the faint but constant tapping nose coming from somewhere ahead of her.  If she would've been anywhere else but here, she would've set our to look for the source of the tapping, but she knew better then to try.

While she might not have been there all that long, she knew the layout well.  The grated metal floor, bolted metal walls, and un-breach able metal door were all too familiar to her.  She also knew that while she was feeling cramped on the floor, it was useless to think she would be able to take a few good strides in any direction before she'd run out of room.

So instead of wasting the time and energy needed to try and get out of what she already knew to be a hopeless situation, she sat.  Unmoving on the floor, leaning against the cold wall.  She sat and thought about how much she would love to get out of this prison.

As she continued to sit, feeling as thought the unending silence was beginning to suffocate her, that faint tapping had begun to be a more predominate sound.  She listened more carefully, and sure enough she could quite clearly hear the volume had increased, almost as if it was moving closer.

Her heart sped up it's pace as unanswered questions flooded her mind.  Why was it coming closer, and more importantly, what was causing the tapping in the first place?  There was no use denying it now, she was defiantly worried.  She had no idea what to expect, and the continued progression of the tapping sound wasn't showing any signs of stopping.

She slowly pulled her legs up underneath of herself and stood up.  During their brief contact with the cold floor, she felt the soft vibrations that the tapping was sending through the solid metal with her hands.

It progressed more and more, and got louder and louder until it was fairly booming through the echoing room.  When the tapping was right outside the door, she pressed herself up against the back wall.  Not having any idea what to expect, and not knowing what was causing the insanely loud tapping was making her decidedly nervous.  This was not the kind of situation she liked to find herself in, unprepared and unaware what to expect.

She listened as the tapping continued directly outside the door for a whole minute, and then seemed to stretch into two.  It kept going for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only about five minutes, and then without warning, it suddenly stopped.

Her ears buzzed in the silence that followed.  After the constant tapping that had boomed in it's intensity, and had all but shook the was down, the impenetrable silence was defining.

Before she was given a chance to revel in the lonely darkness again though, the latch one the outside of the heavy door was released with a click.  As the door was slowly swung open on silent hinges, a triangle of light formed on the floor, which got larger the wider the door was opened.  She could feel her muscles tightening up as the door was finally opened wide enough to see a darkened figure standing against the light.

It was impossible to make out any distinguishing features on the face, but she felt like she knew who it was.  Just as her mind began to come up with answers and possible reasons for this, the light behind the figure began to fade until just a soft glow remained.  It was amazing what her eyes were able to pick up with just that small change.  Now she was able to make out a few distinct characteristics that only confirmed her earlier suspicions.

Coming out from darkened sockets was a pair of blue eyes she couldn't forget even if she tried.  They could be the eyes she longed for or the eyes she feared.  Right now she was very afraid of what was looking back at her through those eyes.  There was deep-seated malice and hunger from within them, and it chilled her to the core.

The blue-eyed figure knew the effect it was having on her, and opened its mouth in a wide toothy smile as it began to move into the small room.  It walked like a man, putting one foot in front of the other, but it wasn't normal walking.  Nothing about this was normal, especially the tapping sound that came up every time it put its foot down on the grated metal floor.

Finally knowing the source of the tapping was enough to make her try and melt through the solid wall, but it wasn't what finally did it to her.

As though it could sense her fear, the toothy smile widened, and the jewel like eyes glittered an ever-brighter form of blue the closer it got to her.  Suddenly the figure reached out and placed a cold clammy hand onto her upper arm.  That act alone was enough to send her into hysterics, but it wasn't over there.  As she stood against the metal wall, held in place by the surprisingly strong hold of that single hand, the figure leaned its head in towards her ear.  Its voice was sultry and smooth and was almost a relaxing sound, if not for the words it spoke.

"I will destroy you and everything you hold dear."

She had heard threats like this before, and it had never bothered her.  It was because all the times she had heard it before, she knew it was an impossible thing to do.  Nothing short of an atomic bomb would be able to rid the world of all she held dear, and even then it would be no easy task.  The difference about this time was that when she heard the words, she absolutely believed them.  The mocking, mirth filled eyes, and smooth powerful voice left not a doubt in her mind that this figures plans would be carried out.

Without warning, the figure brought it's other hand to slide up her leg underneath her robe.  "I will have you as my own, no matter what I have to do to get you."

Franticly trying to move from the invading hand, she let out an ear-piercing scream.

Relena woke herself up screaming, and sat up strait in her bed, the dream still fresh in her memory.  Immediately she whipped her head around to search the room for any unknown people hovering over her or lurking in the shadows.  As she did so, a hand came up and clutched at her chest.  Her heart was pounding so hard that it felt like her chest was going to explode at any moment.  She had also begun to fight for every breath of air.

Just as she was getting herself into a more hysterical frame of mind she was rescued.  Strong comforting hands came up to stroke her upper arms, and a soothing voice whispered in her ear.  "Your safe in your room, and theirs no way anyone could get in here."  Heero's voice felt like a comforting blanket being spread over her shaking limbs.

Forgetting for a moment what had her so upset, she looked up at him. Even in the darkened room Relena could see his Prussian eyes glittering.  The shadows played on his face exenterating his already sharp features, and his wild hair hung over his forehead making him look like he had just woken up as well.  When her eyes met his she breathed a sigh of relief, and tried to force herself to calm down.

Once she had gotten herself under control, she looked back up at Heero's face.  By now the bedside lamp had been turned on, and she was better able to survey his expression.  His mouth was set in a hard line, and his eyes showed concern for what had happened.  Instead of asking what had happened, he sat facing her not saying a word.  She had stopped shaking at this point, so he was no longer holding on to her arms.

"It was just a dream."  Relena said more to herself then anyone else as the memory came back to her.

"Yes."

She looked towards the balcony doors.  It was still dark outside; morning was a few hours away yet.  This was her way of hiding, of trying to forget all about the dream.  Unfortunately, the images themselves were not about to leave her.  They lingered in her mind, and replayed themselves again and again.  Every time they did, she gave a little wince as they reached the ending right before she had woken herself up.

Suppressing the scream that bubbled up in her throat every time she was forced to relive the horrifying experience, Relena tried to look at this dream in a logical manner.  While she was doing so, she began to tell Heero everything she could remember.  While she did so, she didn't take her eyes off of the distant sky she could see right outside the balcony doors.  For some reason, she didn't feel like she could face him while she told him her dream, she was afraid that if she looked at him she wouldn't be able to finish saying everything she wanted to say.  Once she finished, she continued to stare absently at a winking star until she forced herself to turn her head.

Heero was looking at her still.  The expression on his face was the same as it had been earlier, but his eyes told her what he was really feeling.  He was quite disturbed by what she had told him, and even as she watched, his facial expression began to support what his eyes were showing her.

"Are you sure that they didn't do anything to you while you were being held captive?"  His voice remained level and calm.  He was most defiantly being careful to hide any other emotions he might have about the disturbing dream.

Relena nodded.  "They didn't do anything to me that might've caused me harm, that's why the dream itself is so strange.  Nothing really warrants this sort of reaction."

"Dreams always happen for a reason."  With that statement, the tone of Heero's voice changed, she wasn't sure why.  Relena turned to look at him, surprised at his words.  A far away look had come over his face, as thought he was deep in thought.  

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

Her words seemed to snap him out of his thoughts suddenly.  He turned his Prussian eyes on her again as he answered.  "All that I'm saying is that dreams are sometimes your minds way of telling you something you might not have been aware of."

"My mind's telling me something?"  Relena puzzled for a moment.  What could her mind mean to tell her with that horrible dream?  "Do you think you could be more specific?"

Heero didn't respond to her comment.  Instead he took a glass of water that had been sitting on the nightstand, and handed it to her.  She took it, grateful for the opportunity to take her mind off of the odd and scary dream.

"Thank you."  She held the glass out to him after she had taken a long drink of the cold water.

"Do you feel any better now?"  He asked, replacing the glass to its former position.

She smiled.  "I do.  Of course, it helps that you're here."

As he grunted and tried to turn away, Relena surprised herself and reached out an arm to stop him from leaving.  Once he had turned his eyes back to meet hers, she saw that she had also surprised him with her action.

'Why am I doing this?' She asked herself in a fleeting moment of weakness.  She looked up to face Prussian blue eyes that fairly burned into her own.  There was such an intensity behind them that she almost felt like she should turn away, but she didn't.  Relena sat looking up into his scrutinizing gaze, and the longer she did so, the more she began to enjoy her position.

"Please," Relena could feel herself trying to plead with her eyes as well as words,  "Just stay here a little longer."

"You need to get some more rest."  It hadn't taken him long to get his emotions in check.  As he spoke there was no trace of the surprise she had caused him.

"I know that I should, but—" 

"There are a lot of things that need to get done tomorrow," Heero cut her off in mid sentence, "And if you don't get all the rest you can now, it will only make it harder to get those things done."

"Don't you think I know that?"  Relena replied feeling agitated.  "I know better than anyone all the things that will need to be done, but good Lord Heero!  Don't you know how long I've been waiting for this to happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"For you Heero.  I've been waiting for two years for you to come back, and now that you're here in front of me, all you can say is that I need to rest?"

As she watched his face, Heero's expression didn't seem to change.  It seemed as though he wasn't taking her seriously, and that thought threatened to spur her on more.

"Why did you come back Heero?  Why did you come back if all your going to do is tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing?"  As soon as she asked the question, the more she began to wonder.

It seemed as thought he wasn't going to make any moves to answer.  All he did was sit unmoving on the bed, eyeing her carefully.  When he did finally speak it was a surprise.

"I came back to protect you."

"But you knew that my brother was coming back when I was kidnapped.  Don't you think that he would be able to protect me, and that the Preventers would work their hardest to get me back?

She felt the bed shift as he moved a bit uncomfortably.  He really wasn't making any effort to answer her.  In fact, he was doing everything he could to avoid answering her directly.

"This isn't a good time to be discussing this."  Heero's voice was gruff.  "You've been through a lot and you have so much on your mind.  I don't think it would be a good idea to add more right now."

"But I need--," Relena stopped herself and re-worded what she was saying.  "I want to know.  I feel like it would make a world of difference if you could tell me why it took you so long to finally come back."  She pleaded.

It was then that she saw it, the answer to her question clearly written on his face.  His brow was knit, and his eyes were darkened with an emotion that looked like he was in pain.  She knew the answer then, but she refused to acknowledge it.  It was too perfect too be true, so it must not be.  All she knew for sure was that he was holding something back from her.  It seemed from his expression that he wanted to tell her, but that something important held him back.

"Heero," Relena started speaking softly.  "You can trust me you know."

The pained expression got worse.  "It's not that.  This just isn't the time.  You will know, I'll tell you everything once all of this is through."

He stood up and walked away from the bed.  She didn't try to stop him this time.  It wouldn't make any difference.  Heero wouldn't tell her anything until he was good and ready.  That was the way he had always been during the war and things obviously hadn't changed.  Everything was on a need to know basis, and apparently at this moment, she didn't need to know.

As Relena watched him, he moved to stand in front of the balcony doors, and turned his eyes to the trees outside.  His posture was ridged, and betrayed his nervous feelings about the present situation.  As he stood there, she couldn't help but notice again how much he had matured over the last couple of years.  The boy, who was determined to do anything to complete his missions, had turned into a young man, who hadn't lost his determination, but rather focused it on other endeavors.  He didn't seem as though he would throw his life away as easily as before though, which set her mind at ease.  

Something that she knew would never change was his quiet but strong presents.  Their had been many times while they were both still going to school at the St. Gabriel Institute, and when he had come to the Sank Kingdome with Quatre that without having to turn and look, she knew he had entered the room.  It was a second sense she had for his presents that she could never mistake, and never steered her wrong.  It was that very same sense, among other things, that told her now how unlikely it was that Heero would tell her anything tonight.

Leaning back against her pillows, and sighing quietly, Relena took another look at Heero's statue like form.  'Whatever you're hiding, I hope you tell me soon.'  She thought, wishing he could hear her.  'I think it would make things easier for both of us.'

When he didn't move, she slowly allowed her eyes to close and began to ward off the painful images remaining from her dream, and tried to fall asleep.

The remaining hours before sunrise went by excruciatingly slow.  Heero spent the time switching between watching Relena sleep and pacing the floor between her bed and the balcony doors.  The problem was that every time he watched her lips turn into a frown while she slept he had an urge to wake her up and tell her everything he hadn't told her about his reasons for coming back.  Then reason would kick in and remind him why he hadn't just told her when she asked, and then he had to force himself to move away from her just to ensure he didn't do anything rash.  It had been a long night indeed.

Of course, once the sun had risen, he had been able to stop his pacing and wait until she woke up.  He didn't have to wait long.  As the first rays of sunshine crept through the balcony doors, and through the cracks in the window blinds across the floor to shine on her face, Relena's violet eyes fluttered open.

Heero watched as she blinked a few times, and brought a hand up to rub away the traces of sleep.  Using the same hand the push away some strands of honey hair from her forehead, Relena sighed and turned over onto her side to face him.  Pink lips moved into a sleepy smile, and he listened as they spoke to him.  "Good morning."

He didn't mean to stair at her so intently, this young woman who looked up at him now with dreamy eyes and an open smile.  He didn't mean to, but it couldn't be helped.  If he thought she was beautiful while she slept, she was simply gorgeous when she was awake.

'This is why,' Heero told himself sternly, 'this is why I have to control my emotions around her.  One slip could jeopardize her safety.'  His eyes hadn't left her face, and watched as the gentle smile turned to one of amusement.

When she saw that he wasn't going to say anything, she nodded at him as though she understood, and slowly began to climb out of bed.  She stood up and stretched out her arms above her head while looking out the window.

"It's such a beautiful day, don't you think?"

"Hn."  He didn't trust himself to say more than that.  The way she was gracefully gliding across the room to collect clothing from drawers and her closet was enough to make him swallow hard.

"I'll just be a second, and then we'll go downstairs, okay?"  She called out as she closed herself inside of her bathroom to change.

"Alright."

True to her word, she was done shortly, and came out of the bathroom wearing a simple cream-colored pantsuit with a v-necked white blouse underneath.  Her hair was done in a French twist with one strand hanging down in front of her eyes that she pushed out of the way with a sweep of her hand.  He could tell she was wearing make up, but it was very basic.  She had added color to just her cheeks and lips, leaving her own natural beauty to do the rest.  She looked simple, professional, and ready to take on any task that may present itself during the day.  He never paid much attention to any woman and was even surprised that he noticed as much about her appearance as he did.  Of course, Relena wasn't like any other female he had ever met.

"So how do I look?"  She asked abruptly snapping him out of his thoughts.  For a moment he just stood their staring at her.  "Well?  Are you just going to stand there?"  She asked again.  When he looked at her he saw an amused smile gracing her lips.

"You look . . . Good."  Heero answered, and then turned to move towards the door.

He heard her tinkling laughter come from behind him as she followed.  "That's quite a complement coming from you!"

Heero didn't stop walking.  He was out of the room and starting down the stairs when she came to walk beside him.

"Thank you."  She spoke just loud enough for him to hear.

For a moment he stopped on the stairs and turned to regard Relena carefully.  She stopped as well, violet eyes looking back at him openly revealing herself to him.  He couldn't see anything on her face other than a genuine smile, and that was enough to satisfy him.  Heero grunted a reply and continued to walk the rest of the way down the stairs.

When they made it to the dining room, they found that everyone was already seated and were consuming various breakfast items.  While Heero stood in the doorway observing everyone, Relena stepped by him and took her place at the head of the table.

Heads turned towards her as she pulled out her chair and sat down.  "Good morning everyone."  She smiled.

There was a course of good mornings, and questions about how she was feeling.  "I'm feeling much better, thank you."

"How did you sleep?"  Zecks asked while taking a sip of his coffee.  He was seated directly on her left wearing a pair of dark dress pants and dark dress shirt that he had the top couple of buttons left undone.  Beside him Noin wore a standard dark green Preventers uniform.  It was strange, why hadn't Zecks-

"I slept very well."  Relena's response interrupted his thoughts.  He looked up to see her smiling warmly at her sibling as she continued.  "To tell the truth, I don't think I've slept so well since before the rush for trade agreements started between the colonies and Earth."  She laughed lightly; the weight of the room seemed to lift.

Her mask was flawless.  No one in the room had any idea that her restful sleep had been disturbed by a horrible nightmare, that even now she was struggling to find meaning behind.  All she needed to do was smile and say calm reassuring words to lift the spirits and hopes of all the people around her.  No one knew that deep down in her heart Relena Darlian secretly doubted everything she had been told by the kidnappers about the reasons behind her abduction.  No one that was, except for him.

The reason why he hadn't seen it earlier was because this mask of hers only had a purpose once she was questioned about her sleep.  It was like she suddenly remembered all the fear and confusion she had last night while sleeping, and didn't want to recall it.  If she didn't tell anyone about the dream and her feelings, then she wouldn't have to share them.

Heero had his head bent down as he leaned against the doorframe, but still watched everything in the room from behind veiled eyes.  Relena was smiling while Sally commented on Relena's speedy recovery, and Duo continued to tell his animated story to the table.  Once Relena began to listen, she chuckled at the inane way Duo gestured with his fork and toast to emphasize the important parts, never once giving any indication of the worry weighing on her mind.

It was almost surprising that no one else in the room was able to pick up on it, but he figured that no one else had as much experience as he did with masking their feelings.  Another thing that was surprising to him was how Relena had gotten so good at it.  He could remember her during the war, when her feelings had been as easy to read as looking at an open book.  Truthfully, he shouldn't have been all that surprised, considering her profession, a skill like covering one's own feelings could be an asset.  Of course, the extent to which she used it was completely unlike the girl he'd known two years ago.  Instead of just using the skill to mask her personal feelings during political meetings and conferences, she was using it to hide herself from her friends and family, people she claimed to trust.

Duo's story had finished, and there were a variety of reactions going around the table that went from complete disgust to chuckling amusement. 

While he was so engrossed with his own thoughts and with what was going on around the table, Heero almost missed the quiet footsteps coming up behind him.  When he turned around to see who it was, he came face to face with Relena's elderly butler, Pagan.

"Good morning Mr. Yuy."  The older man spoke in a slow, modulated way.  "What can I get you for breakfast this morning?"

Heero was just about to answer when the whole table seemed to turn to face him.

"Hey Heero, I didn't even see you standing there!"  Duo turned around in his chair and commented.  "Why don't you come and sit down and have some of this great food!"  The former Deathscythe pilot was grinning like a maniac, knowing how this situation must be irking him, while he pulled out a chair in open invitation.  Any other time, Heero would've scoffed at the mockery and simply left the room without saying a word.  Of course this wasn't like any other time, and he knew that the moment his eyes locked with Relena's.  A smile, this time a real smile like when she had woken up, graced her features as she nodded at him.  It was his answer to weather he should stay or not, and that she wanted him to.

Returning her nod, Heero made his way towards the chair Duo held out, and found himself seated to Relena's right, and directly across the table from Zecks.  The older man had seemed fine from his position by the doorway, but upon closer inspection he saw the strain underneath his thoughtful expression.  Was it possible that he was also able to see behind Relena's emotional mask, or was it something else?

Pagan had followed him to the table and was currently asking Relena what she wanted for breakfast.

"I'll have a bowl of oatmeal, like usual."  She patted her butler affectionately on the arm.  "No use changing routine, is there?"

The evidence of a smile was visible from behind the elderly man's rather large mustache.  "Your absolutely right Ms. Relena."  When he turned to ask him the same question, Heero was ready.

"I'll just have a cup of coffee."

"Certainly" Pagan answered.  "I'll be back shortly."

"Man, your no fun."  Duo grumbled before shoving a rather large piece of sausage and egg into his mouth.  "All this great food here, and you ask for coffee!  You are one of the strangest guys I know."  Heero had to lean back a bit as Duo spoke around his mouthful of food.

While Duo was lamenting, Relena leaned her head towards him.  "You really should eat something," Her voice was low.  "You probably haven't eaten since early yesterday afternoon, you must be hungry."

Heero shook his head.  "I never eat breakfast."

"Oh."  She moved back in her chair.

He looked across the table to where Zecks was holding his own coffee cup up to his lips.  The strained, thoughtful look had been replaced by a hard questioning expression.  Instead of trying to explain himself, or give any indication what he was thinking, he crossed his arms over his chest and hardened his expression.  If the platinum haired man knew that Heero was holding back on telling Relena his real feelings for her because of a theory they had for the basis of the kidnapping, it would mean far more than just a discussion.  After a moment, Zecks shrugged his shoulders and look away.  Heero knew well enough that this wasn't then end of the situation, that he would more then likely be approached later, but nothing else would be done at the present time.

Thankfully, before anything else unexpected could happen, a steaming cup of coffee was placed in front of him in a large mug.  He could feel the exhaustion from not having slept come up suddenly as he took the hold of the handle and brought it near his mouth, but the feeling left once the bitter black liquid passed his lips.

He now turned his attention back to Relena.  She had just finished sprinkling brown sugar on to her oatmeal, and was mixing it up when she suddenly spoke.  "Would anyone be able to tell me what the agenda for the day is?"

Sally cleared her throat.  "Well last night after you went to sleep, we had a vid-conference with Commander Une, and discussed that were of immediate importance.  Firstly of course, it is important for us to know exactly what happened to you while you were being held by the kidnappers before we can plan any kind of strategy."

"I understand."  Her voice had taken on a more professional tone.  "What should I expect after that is done?"

"The next thing that should be looked at is the ESUN.  Your kidnapping has thrown quite a lot of things out of whack, including the postponement of a new peace treaty between a number of colonies and countries from Earth.  What they need is an address from you to assure them that your kidnapping was not politically related, and that you have come back unharmed."

The young politician had taken a spoonful of her oatmeal and chewed it thoughtfully before answering.  "That would be of major importance, yes.  I'm sure that any situations that may have aroused would be easier to control if the people and ESUN members knew that everything was under control."

"Just showing everyone that your alive and well will set them at ease, and show them the Preventers are working to wrap this situation up as quickly as possible."  Quatre spoke up.  "I know the ESUN members just as well as you do Ms. Relena, and just knowing that your out of harms way after only tow days will allow them to relax and continue on like normal."

"Your probably right."  She seemed to be getting more accustomed to the idea the more she thought about it.  "How long do you think the de-briefing will take?"  Relena turned back to Sally.

The Preventer was thinking.  "I'm not positive, it depends on how many times we have to go over your story to clarify details, but I wouldn't think that it would take more than an hour or so."

"That's fine.  It won't take more than an hour for a press conference, but to avoid a bunch of unnecessary questions by the media, I think that it might be smarter if I just released a statement." 

It was like the young politician never left her post.  She was already back to thinking strategically, and with all the possible political upsets in mind while she planned.

"That could be easily arranged.  The equipment is already here, and it wouldn't take long to set up."  Sally folded her arms across her chest.  "Is that how you want to do it?"

"Yes."

"Alright then," She uncrossed her arms and pushed her chair away from the table.  "While I go and see that things are set up properly, could you start the debriefing once Ms. Relena is ready, Wufei?"

The Chinese Preventer snorted.  "Don't try and give me orders, woman."

She smiled.  "Thanks Wufei."  Then turned and walked out of the room.

Heero watched as the red haired woman left and took another sip of his coffee.  Once she was gone, he turned to the former Shenlong pilot.  "Something that should be looked at before the debriefing is the security of the Preventers information system."

He met Wufei's gaze.  "That was looked at as soon as the information about the kidnapping was leaked out.  It seems that there was some temporary staff on at the time, and after they had been spoken to by the staff in charge of interviewing, they went and sold their story to the press."  The Asian man lowered his head.  "Pure incompetence was to blame, and the situation was rectified afterwards."

"Hum."  Without meaning to he glanced back towards Relena.  She was lifting her spoon to her mouth to take another bite of oatmeal when she suddenly paused and reversed her actions.  Delicately she dabbed at her mouth with her napkin before clearing her throat to speak.

"I see no reason why we should delay this anymore than we already have."  The rest of the table turned to face her.  "Shall we move to the study to conduct the debriefing?"

"Are you sure your ready, Relena?"  Noin leaned forward in her chair in order to make eye contact with the young woman.

Relena's face softened as she smiled.  "Yes, I'm ready.  Besides, the sooner I do this, the sooner everything will be over."  She rose from her chair and began to move towards the door.

As if on cue, the rest of the room got out of their chairs and followed her out the door.  Heero was just about to do the same when he felt a strong hand rest on his shoulder.  "I would like to have a word with you."

To be continued, . . .

A/N : Am I bad?  Well, since it's been a couple of months since I've updated, and since this chapter is like twice as long as any other I've put out so far, I figured that a little suspense was in order.  ^_^  Don't worry though!  Part 13 is well underway, and after I get some school stuff outta the way, I will be finishing it up.

Thank you to everyone who's been reading, and sticks with me, even though I'm pretty horrible at updating.  Till next time!

~Eden


	13. Part 13

Disclaimer : Well, Now I have to say that I seriously do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters. If I did then I would have no reason to be writing fan fiction because I would just go out and make wonderful movies for all of the lovely fans. ^_^ Anyways, while I claim no ownership of those things, I do claim ownership of this particular story and any characters that I happen to throw in. 

__

Eternal Promises

By Eden

Part 13

"I would like to have a word with you."

Heero turned around and found himself faced with a pair of green eyes that were partially hidden by long dark bangs. Trowa's expression was difficult to read, but he could detect his seriousness by his rigid posture and the firm set of his jaw.

"Hn."

They waited until everyone had left the room before either of them spoke again. While they did, Heero thought for a moment about how he had always felt strangely akin with Trowa. It was like they shared the same thoughts when it came to fighting and showing emotions. It was probably because they had shared the same sort of past.   
Both of them always fighting, always in the midst of some battle. The war two years ago had only seemed like an extension of their lives before that. It was only now, in these times of peace that they were forced to find a new way to live.

His thoughts were cut short by Trowa clearing his throat quietly. Heero took a quick look around the room and saw that they were now alone, and that it was time for him to hear what was on his friend's mind. 

Trowa turned towards the door as he started to speak. "Relena is worried about something, and I know that you know what it is."

Heero narrowed his eyes slightly. He shouldn't have been surprised by this, Trowa had never been one to mince words, but he did begin to wonder where exactly this conversation was going.

The young man turned back to face him, and without pausing, pressed forwards. "You realize that she's not the passive, naïve girl she once was. Relena is now the Vice Foreign Minister of ESUN, and has knowledge of the options that are available to her during a crisis, and will not likely hesitate to use whatever means possible to get rid of, or better understand this threat."

Heero was taken aback. He hadn't expected this from Trowa, of all people. Perhaps Duo, who couldn't seem to stay out of his life no matter how long he went away, or Quatre with his infinite wisdom of the female mind, all thanks to growing up in a household of sisters, but he expected that. This was something he wasn't prepared for, and it took him completely by surprise. How was it possible that Trowa could know Relena so perfectly when he knew that he had spent little or no time in her actual presence?

While he puzzled over these few thoughts in his mind, Trowa had taken a step closer to him, and lowered his voice slightly. "Something else that you might not realize it that she seems to be very sensitive to your moods. She can tell that your worried about what's happening, and is going to try her best to take care of it so she can avoid causing you trouble."

"How do you-" He let his question trail off.

Trowa shrugged. "I've had a lot of experience with reading people, same as you. The best way to defeat your enemy is to understand how they think." He stared at him for a moment and seemed to gather his thoughts before continuing. "But, to answer your question, the reason why I may be able to see these things while you can't is because I'm looking at this from an objective point of view."

"Hum." Heero crossed his arms across his chest and lowered his eyes.

"It's important that you let Relena see you're here to help her, that she's not alone." He was going on, not giving up his point. "I know what your trying to do by not telling her your real reasons for coming back, but it wouldn't kill either of you if you just let her know how you feel."

Nothing seemed to go unnoticed by the former Heavy arms pilot; it was like everything Heero did was totally transparent. "I can't do that. If I told her how I felt then I would get distracted from the job of protecting her."

"Somehow, I don't think that anything could throw you off course when it came to that." A smile, barely visible, played on the corner of Trowa's mouth. "But if you're worried about that, then you're forgetting why the rest of us are here. We all feel that keeping the Vice Foreign Minister safe is a top priority, and have already planned incase of any distraction on your part."

For a moment Heero felt his face harden. "I see." He met the green-eyed man's gaze for a moment. When he could find no traces of maliciousness on his face, and knew that he wasn't likely to find any, he relaxed again. "Thank you." The anger left him as soon as it came.

"No problem."

Once everyone had made it into the study, they had closed the doors and begun the debriefing. Wufei set up a tape recorder on top of Relena's desk, and then had instructed her to tell them everything that had happened, from when she was abducted up to when she found herself safely at home. Relena had complied, and when she was finished telling them what she remembered, the questions had started. She was forced to recall details about conversations and descriptions of people. Everything she was asked, Relena could answer with relative ease, that was except for one thing.

"When you were lying down on the table after you had been given the sedative, can you remember what the man said his name was?" Wufei asked the question like any other, with his serious tone and no-nonsense attitude.

"Well, I-" Relena looked around the room. Everyone was watching her, and they all expected an answer. Without thinking she looked up to where Heero was standing beside her. She hadn't paid much attention to him up until this point because of the way he had dismissed her at breakfast. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to look at him now, but she did, and was surprised to see him looking back at her. Heero had what looked like an encouraging look to his face, and no matter how unsuspecting she might be of the thought that caused this transformation; Relena was comforted nonetheless.

"I don't remember his name." She turned and saw the Asian man sigh in frustration, but she continued undaunted. "When he finally told it to me, the sedative must've already made me incoherent, and so, I'm not able to recall what he said." Relena tried to explain. 

"So you heard it?" Sally had joined the group after she finished setting up the equipment for Relena's ESUN address. "You don't remember what this man said, but you heard it?"

"That's correct." The way the red-haired Preventer was staring at her was making it difficult not to think she had a plan, or idea in mind.

"If that's the case then there is one option available to us, although I'm not sure you'll be in favor of it."

"What were you thinking of?"

"I was thinking of hypnosis."

Relena's breath caught in her throat for a moment. Hypnosis? Was that really such a good idea? Before she could voice her concerns, the former alliance doctor began to explain her reasons.

"Normally I wouldn't suggest such a thing because of personal feelings, but it may prove useful in this situation. Because you were not put through anything that would force you to suppress memories on purpose we wouldn't be causing any harm with this route. Of course," Sally paused for a moment while she raised a finger to tap her chin. "The final decision is completely up to you, Ms. Relena."

Relena wasn't able to say anything right away; she was too busy going over everything in her mind. The thought of being put under hypnosis and losing control of any kind was vaguely disturbing. Of course, if going through with it would mean answers for the Preventers so they could find the kidnappers faster, then the logical decision would be to agree with the idea.

After a few more moments of pondering over the two options, Relena raised her gaze to meet Sally's. "I'll need a bit of time to think about it, if that's alright with you."

"Of course." She answered with a nod.

"Is there anything else you would like to go over right now? Are there any more questions?" Relena looked to the left of Sally, at her scowling partner.

"Not right now, but I'll be sure to let you know if anything comes up." His voice was surprisingly calm for someone who had not received and answer to his earlier question.

"That's fine." She turned to check the clock mounted on her wall. "I suppose I should go and make the address to ESUN now. It everything set up?"

"Yes, of course, Ms. Relena." Sally motioned towards the door. "I'll show you where we put everything."

"Thank you." Relena followed the older woman as she set out of the room.

As Heero left the study behind Relena, he was stopped by someone clearing their throat. Turning his head to the side he caught site of Pagan standing not far off.

"Excuse me, Mr. Yuy," The older man came towards him. "I am aware that you spent the night on guard duty and have not yet slept. I took the liberty of having a room prepared for you so that you might rest."

"Thank you," Heero answered, surprised at the gesture. "But I-"

"That's a very good idea." A male voice interrupted him in mid-sentence.

Heero saw a flash of platinum blond hair from the corner of his eye. He didn't need to turn his head to know that Zecks had come out of the room as well. He felt himself scowl. Just what was Zecks trying to pull?

"Noin and I were going to accompany Relena as she records her address to the ESUN, and I had hoped to perhaps talk with her for a bit afterwards. This would be a good time for you to get a couple hours sleep."

"Hn." He was beginning to realize what the older Peacecraft sibling wanted. He wanted some time alone to talk to his sister, perhaps try to explain to her all the things that had happened to him, and why he had done the things he had in the past. In an indirect way, he was also telling Heero to back off for a while and look after himself. What a guy.

He let the expression on his face soften and melt away; he had finally noticed how tired he was. Relena hadn't been mistaken when she'd said that he had been awake since they had gotten back to the Peacecraft mansion, and only now was he beginning to feel the full effects of his body's fatigue. It was different being on Earth, he didn't feel the need to stay awake because of the dreams he had, he felt like he could actually get a restful sleep.

"Well, it's decided." The large mustache above Pagan's mouth moved to smile. "Mr. Yuy, if you would follow me, I'll show you to your room." With that, the elderly butler began to make his way down the hallway towards the large staircase.

Heero had taken a step to follow suit when Zecks leaned his head down close to his ear. "I would like to have word with you also, but it will have to wait until later."

Before he could reply, Zecks was off walking in the same direction that Sally and Relena had gone, and Heero was left standing by himself. Taking a breath he continued to follow after the disappearing Pagan and thought to himself how he wasn't looking forward to his talk with Zecks.

A few minutes later, Heero was closing the shower door inside of the adjacent bathroom to the room Pagan had directed him towards. He allowed himself to relax as the hot water ran over his tense muscles and soaked his hair flat against his head.

His mind was utterly blank for the first time since hearing about Relena's kidnapping. Not a single coherent thought flitted across it. The only thing that mattered was the hot water that was slowly burning away his constraints and anxiety. He watched as the soap he had lathered onto his body was washed down the drain, and for the time being took his worries with it.

His whole life, his whole existence had always been about protecting himself or protecting other people. It was such a weight that seemed to have been temporally lifted from his shoulders.

Turning off the water finally, Heero grabbed a towel from the bar mounted outside the shower door and stepped onto the tile floor. A rush of cool air hit him as she left the bathroom to get something to wear. It was refreshing to feel the coolness against his heated skin. As he glanced around the room, he saw that his duffle bag had been placed on the floor by a dresser. His query found, he went over towards it to begin searching for something more appropriate than a towel.

Once he found a pair of shorts, Heero dried the remaining moisture from his body and slipped them on before moving to collapse onto the large bed.

"For once," he mumbled as his eyes slowly began to close. "I'm going to leave the guarding and protecting to someone else."

While most of the room followed Relena and Sally as they went down the hallway to make the ESUN address, Trowa followed Wufei to the makeshift Preventer base camp. It didn't take them long to get to the living room, and once they got there, Wufei headed straight towards the far wall where a laptop was sitting upon a coffee table.

"Let's see if we can find what we're looking for." The Chinese man picked up the small piece of equipment and sat down in a nearby chair.

Trowa took a seat near him and waited while Wufei found the information they were looking for. It didn't take long before he was being motioned over to take a look at the screen.

"This is it," Wufei pointed at the screen. "The location of the computer that first received the satellite transmission."

He leaned over to take a look at where the black-haired man was pointing and skimmed the information for himself. "Hum." Trowa was strategizing in his mind. "Western Canada. They couldn't have picked a location further away from here."

"I estimate at least a twelve hour trip to get there." Wufei continued to stare at the screen for a moment and then write down the exact location on a scrap of paper he pulled from his pocket.

"At least that." He agreed. "Well, since time is no longer on our side, you and the others need to think of another plan while I'm tracking down this lead."

"You're still going to go?"

Trowa nodded and straitened in his chair. "Like it or not, if something happens here while I'm off looking for the kidnapper's base, we'll at least have something to pursue. We can't afford to let this lead go cold while we have nothing else to go on."

Wufei nodded. He understood what he was doing. This wasn't for Relena as the Vice Foreign Minister anymore. Somehow he knew that they all understood this was more than just that. This wasn't about protecting a political figure, or about saving the one woman their comrade had ever loved. It was bigger than all of that. This was about protecting the lives that they had carefully built over the years since the war and about their desire not to give it up or see anyone else suffer because of pointless fighting.

No matter what the reasons behind Relena's kidnapping, and no matter what response the kidnappers had hoped to receive, it was going to end without anyone else getting involved. If it didn't, then it could be someone that he cared about next.

Trowa stood up and cast a look down towards Wufei. "Thanks for finding the location. I'll take it from here."

Wufei handed him the scrap of paper with the address on it. "I hope you find them."

"So do I."

Heero wasn't sure how long he slept, but when he opened his eyes, the room was dark. Sometime during his sleep, he had found his way under the covers and was pleasantly warm because of it. Turning his head to look at the bedside clock, he was surprised to see that it was after eight o'clock. He had literally slept the entire day away.

As he slowly began to get up out of bed, he caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. He tensed and froze, his mind worked furiously. His gun wasn't in reaching distance, he was at a large disadvantage.

As he watched the intruder, they moved slightly, just a fraction of an inch, but it was enough. Heero saw a flash of golden blond hair in the moonlight and relaxed.

"Relena, . . ."

There was some more movement, and then she came and knelt beside the bed. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." He said, her face now visible to him in the pale light coming through the windows. "Why are you here?"

"Well," She said, readjusting her position on the floor. "When you didn't show up for dinner, I asked Pagan if he knew where you were. He told me that you were sleeping, and I thought that when you woke up you might be hungry."

"Oh?"

"Yes." She looked away for a moment, before looking back at him with a smile. "So would you like to eat?"

Heero thought for a moment before giving up to the young woman. "Sure."

"Good," Relena said standing up and turning on the bedside lamp, "Because everything should still be hot, I brought a lot of food."

He pushed himself up, and was about to leave the bed and move towards the small table Relena had set up, when she came strolling back towards him with a breakfast tray in hand.

"I can just – " Heero tried to make her understand that he didn't mind getting up before she interrupted him.

"Just sit up against the pillows," She smiled again, "I have everything ready."

It was strange to have someone do this for him. Never had Heero been looked after like this before. Relena placed the tray over his legs and took the cover off of the plate with a flourish. "I hope you like it."

The plate was full of food. There was chicken, potatos, vegetables, roast beef and more all piled together. She must've noticed his eyes widen, because she spoke up. "I wasn't sure what you would like so I just brought some of everything. Just eat what you want."

"Thank you," Heero turned towards her, "But you didn't need to go to any trouble."

The smile had left Relena's face in an instant. "Don't say that." She shook her head. "You always do so much for me, even when you don't have to. I'm just glad that I can do something for you this once, even if it is a small thing."

They sat there in silence for a moment. Heero felt that he should say something to her, to reassure her that he didn't mind doing things for her. He never had. Before he had a chance to speak, Relena motioned towards the plate on his lap with a half smile turning up the corner of her mouth, her humor restored.

"Go ahead and try it," She said, "Tell me what you think."

Nodding, he picked up his fork and took a bite. After chewing if he looked up towards her again. "How did the ESUN address go?"

"Fairly well," Relena pulled a chair up to sit beside the bed. "The recording itself only took about fifteen minutes, and then it took another half an hour before I received my first phone call from them.

"What sort of reaction did they have towards your statement?"

She thought for a moment. "They seemed to be relieved I was back safely, but they didn't seem to want to give me any time for myself before they began throwing me back into work."

Heero frowned. He didn't like the direction this was headed. Didn't these politicians and political figures understand she needed time to rest? "How long did you end up working today?"

"A couple of hours maybe. I wasn't able to do much after lunch because Sally came in and insisted that I stop for the day." She gave a light laugh. "Don't worry, I didn't overwork. I ended up taking a little nap." Relena assured him when she saw his eyebrows rise.

"Hum." He wasn't too keen on the idea of her actually jumping right back to work until things were back to normal. They weren't. They were still trying to figure out the real reason why she had been targeted for this kidnapping, if it hadn't been political. For all anyone knew, the kidnappers could come back at any time, declaring that they had poisoned Relena, or something worse, if their demands were not met. This situation was still too delicate for things to return to normal.

"I think that you should take some time off."

"What do you mean?" Relena was leaning forward in her chair, a confused look on her face.

"Since this situation has not been fully resolved, I think that it would be wise for you to make arrangements for someone to temporally fill in for you, or perhaps put some projects on hold until things are under control." He brought his fork to his mouth once again.

Knowing how seriously Relena took her work, he expected her to put up a fight, and to insist that she was doing work that was worth risking her life to complete. 

"That might be a good idea," She sat back in her chair again. "I don't remember the last time I had a vacation. It would be a nice change to relax for once."

He stopped chewing for a moment, and almost choked in shock. Once he swallowed, he eyed her carefully. "Are you sure your okay with that?"

Relena stretched her arms out in front of her before answering. "Honestly, I think I've been heading towards this for a while now. The time off, not the kidnapping" She clarified when he raised an eyebrow. "Things are beginning to feel tedious so it might be a good idea to take a break, and then go back to things with a fresh perspective."

"You might be right." Heero started eating again. "What sort of things did the ESUN representatives feel were of great importance today?" Now that one matter was settled, it was nice to change the topic. 

The young woman gave a small grimace. "It wasn't anything that someone else couldn't have handled," She went on to tell him all about her dealings that afternoon.

Heero found that he was quite enjoying hearing about her day, and all the small things that happened in it. He listened to what she had to say, offering occasional acknowledgment, and comments. Before long, though, he put his fork down on his plate and leaned back against the pillows.

"All finished?" Relena asked, getting up from her chair.

"Yes, thank you." Heero was about to get up and take the tray back to the table where Relena had brought it from, when she quickly lifted it from his grasp.

"I'll take it."

When she did, he looked down and finally noticed his state of undress. He was still only wearing the pair of shorts he had gone to sleep in without a shirt, and covered by the comforter. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it sooner, but then remembered how Relena had come into the room while he was still sleeping. Surprise or no surprise though, it was time that he did something about it.

Pushing the covers off of his legs, he got up and went towards his duffle bag, which was still on the floor by the dresser. After digging in the bag for a moment, he pulled out a tank top and slid it on over his head. Once he had done that, he turned to see what Relena was doing.

She had finished returning the tray to the table, and was now just staring out the window, her hands clutched behind her back. The soft lamplight played off of her golden hair, and warmed the pale tones of her skin. The expression on her face seemed worn, although a soft smile adorned her lips as she stood, not saying a word.

Heero felt himself tense up. This was a perfect opportunity for him to tell her why he came back. The real reason, not the half-assed response he had given her last night after her nightmare. He knew it was something he had to do, and wanted to do, but as he moved to stand just behind her, he couldn't make himself speak.

This was as close as Heero had been to Relena all night, and his body was responding to it in strange ways. It was the smell of her, that subtle floral sent that seemed to linger in the air around her, and made him feel like he needed to reach out and bury his face in her hair. She was intoxicating, and while he was attempting to gain control over himself again, she turned around to face him.

"Heero," She started, tilting her head up to look at him. "I spoke to my brother today."

"That's good." He wasn't really listening to her, he was to preoccupied with the way she had pushed her hair back enough to reveal the soft arch of her slender neck.

"He told me that they may know the reason why I was kidnapped and then let go so suddenly," She seemed to be a little distant now as she spoke to him. "But he wouldn't tell me why."

Heero swallowed. She had his full attention now. Anything that had to do with Zecks and the kidnapping could mean trouble for him. "Did he give you a reason?"

"He said that you should tell me, that it wasn't his place."

Shit.

Zecks had found his way to make him tell Relena how he felt, and now he had no way to back out of it. Heero's hand came together in a tight fist as he cursed the man's name under his breath.

"I want to know, Heero." Relena's expression grew serious. "This has to do with me, and since I was the one who was kidnapped, I deserve to know."

Her eyes were burning into his with a little bit too much intensity, and it made him turn his head to look out the window. "It's complicated."

"That's alright, I have time."

He looked down at her face once more. "It's not easy for me to say."

Her forehead creased. "What?"

This wasn't going the way he wanted it to. She was demanding answers from him that he was barely able to admit to himself, let alone tell her. There was no possible way Relena was going to let him get away with some lame excuse this time. Zecks had seen to that by basically assuring her he knew something more about the situation then she did.

He let out a breath and tried to start. It would be better to get it over with. "Relena, I—"

She took a step closer to him, and the floral smell assaulted his senses again, rendering him incapable of continuing. Did she know what she was doing to him?

Without warning he felt her fingers gently loosen his fist, as she held tightly onto his hand.

"Please Heero," Her face had softened, and pleaded with him. "I just want to know why someone would be after me."

He looked at her in awe. He had always been able to fight against all odds, take on suicide missions, and stare death in the face; all the while able to keep his mission clearly in mind. For some reason, though, this young woman was able to break through all of his hard training and catch his breath. She literally made him want to confess everything; his feelings for her, the theory behind her kidnapping, anything she wanted to know. But he couldn't do it, not just yet.

"I-" Her violet eyes distracted him. The intensity that he would've thought impossible from someone like her made him pause.

Suddenly a knock sounded at the door. He was temporarily saved from saying anything.

"Come in," Relena called out, moving her gaze towards the door, and releasing his hand.

The door opened and Pagan stepped into the room. "Sorry to disturb you. I just came up to see if there was anything you needed."

Relena smiled. "No thank you Pagan, we're quite alright."

"Well, in that case, I'll just take that tray for you," He came into the room and over to the folding table. "And be on my way."

"It's alright," Relena tried to stop the elderly man. "I'll take it back downstairs in a moment."

Pagan chuckled. "Miss Relena, the day that I allow you to carry a tray for me will be the day that I retire. Besides, your still supposed to be resting."

"I am resting," She spoke fondly to her butler, "But that doesn't mean I have to be helpless."

"Now that's something you will never be." Pagan picked up the tray and started towards the door. Once there, he turned around again. "I bid you goodnight," he gave a slight bow, "And Mr. Yuy, please be sure Miss Relena doesn't stay up too late."

"Of course." Heero answered.

"Goodnight Pagan."

The man gave a final nod and closed the door behind himself. Once he was gone, Heero turned to Relena again.

"It's getting late, we should go to your room."

"I suppose." He heard her sigh as he went to find a pair of pants. "You still need to tell me about the kidnappers."

"Later." He slid a pair of jeans up over his shorts. Picking up his gun that he had deposited on the dresser upon entering, he checked the clip. The weapon was the same as when he left it. Sliding the clip back into place, he motioned for Relena to follow him, and opened the door to the hallway.

When they finally cane to Relena's bedroom door, Heero was greeted with a once over stair from Wufei, who immediately re-crossed his arms that he had dropped upon seeing their arrival.

"Glad to see you made it here alright."

"What are you doing here?" 

"Bartan informed Duo, Quatre and myself that you thought the Vice Foreign Minister could use a little extra protection, so we worked out a schedule to keep at least two of us around at all times." The Chinese man opened an eye to look up at him carefully. "You seem surprised."

Heero shook his head and Wufei continued. Trowa is making rounds outside with the other Preventers, and Duo and Quatre are getting some sleep. You'll be covered the entire night."

The two men exchanged looks of understanding. Wufei might know what Heero was about to do, but knowing the former Shenlong pilot like he did, he was confident that if he had thought there was a problem with it, he would say something. When nothing else was said, Heero nodded at Wufei in thanks. Words weren't necessary.

Without any more hesitation, Heero reached over and opened the door to Relena's room. He entered first, turning on the lights as he went, his gun following his line of sight. Once he had checked the whole room and the bathroom, he motioned for Relena to enter.

She said goodnight to Wufei before closing the door behind herself and moving towards her dresser to retrieve what must've been pajamas. As she went to the bathroom to change, Heero unlocked the balcony door and stepped outside.

He could feel the chill through his thin shirt, but ignored it. He had more important things at the moment to deal with, like how he was going to tell Relena about the kidnappers, and about how he felt for her. He never would've imagined that sharing his feeling with someone would be such a complicated matter, but he had never had much practice with it either. His whole life up until a few years ago had been all about hiding any emotion, and any feelings that could be mistaken as weakness on his part. The very act of trying to be honest with Relena went against everything he had been trained to do.

Maybe she would forget.

Somehow that possibility seemed highly unlikely. She was incredibly focused on finding out what was going on, and even more so now that Zecks has pointed her in the right direction.

No matter how much he wanted to be angry with the older man, he knew he couldn't. Zecks was right after all, it should be up to him to tell Relena what was happening, and what may happen. He just hadn't come up with a good way to do that yet.

Heero leaned against the side of the door, and looked up a t the sky. Just like the night before, the clear cloudless night allowed him to see the stars shining brightly. The moon hadn't come out yet to wash them out either, so Heero was able to make out a couple of constellations he knew. The big and small dippers, Orion, and a few other he had forgotten the names for.

He was just looking for Venus when Relena came out the balcony door beside him. Turning to look at her, he saw that she had taken her hair out of the ponytail it had been in earlier, and her body was wrapped up in a large think robe. In her hand she held an over sized sweatshirt that she handed to him before pulling her robe more tightly around herself.

"I saw you standing out here, and thought that you must be cold wearing just a tank top."

"Thank you." He said after he had pulled the shirt over his head.

She nodded slightly, a small smile on her lips as she turned away from him and took a few steps away from the door and looked up at the sky. "It's such a clear night." Her words were quiet, almost hard to hear. "The stars are so beautiful."

Something that he had come to notice was that any kind of light was attracted to Relena's hair. It always shone, no matter what kind of light was present. As his eyes continued to follow her every movement, a wind came up suddenly and pushed her shimmering hair up off of her shoulders, before letting it settle on her back.

Relena shivered, and tried to wrap her robe more tightly around herself while she tilted her head to look higher in the sky. "I love to come out here and just watch the stars before I go to bed at night. I find it relaxing. What about you?"

He thought for a moment before answering. "Looking at them gives perspective on things."

***

A/N : Okay, this is then end for now, but I have more coming, I'm just not too sure when. ^_^ Thanks to those of you who stick with me and keep reading even when I'm a horrible updater, and leave you hanging in bad spots, . . . You guys are so great! I would also like to thank all the people who take the time to send me an Email at the end of every chapter and review. You have no idea how much that helps me get moving with writing and typing and such. The more movement from me, the faster things get updated, eh? ^_^ I would also like to thank my new beta, Sarah who I have recruited to help me. She is the best and keeps me going when I'm not sure about the direction the story is taking.

Well, that's all for now, but like I said, another part shouldn't be too long in the making.

~Eden


	14. Part 14

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not my property.  Isn't it completely and utterly clear by this point?  I would offer up my pittaly savings for it, but I have a sneaky suspission that I would only be inviting more trouble and scorn then I already receive.  -_-*  On another note, I would like to stake my claim to any original characters I decide to throw in here.  Back off!  Get your own sandwitch!  ^_^ __ _Eternal Promises_

By Eden

Part 14 

The night was calm, and everything seemed to be moving smoothly, albeit, slowly.  Although they may be no closer to knowing who had kidnapped Relena or the reason, at least Zecks knew she was safe now.

He raised one hand to rest on the window frame as he looked out at the grounds below.

Over the course of the night every Preventers operative that could be spared would take a turn on watch around the Peacecraft estate.  It was a large scale operation, but not without due cause.  The kidnappers may have said that it hadn't been a political strike, but that did little to sooth the worries of the government officials.

It did little to sooth his own worries to believe what the kidnappers said.  Instead, it made his own worries worsen with every passing moment.

Zecks had almost told Relena what his thoughts were behind her kidnapping when he caught her worried expression after the debriefing.  He managed to catch himself in time, before he opened his mouth.  Despite what some would believe, he didn't think that it was his place to tell her, no matter how much she needed to know.  

He had been doing quite a bit of thinking lately, and the more he thought, the clearer it became to him that he was probably not the reason why Relena had been kidnapped.  The truth of the matter was that most people still thought he was dead.  Not that there had been anything to prove otherwise.  He hadn't been on Earth for two years now, and even when he was there, the only person who had seen him face to face was Commander Une.

Noin could've spotted him a mile away, and Sally had figured it out through her partner.

Perhaps when Noin had disappeared, that was a sign that he could've been alive, but only to those who had known her.

The most reasonable conclusion was that whoever had kidnapped Relena had known about Heero.  They knew enough about him to see she was the only weakness he had, and that the easiest way to get his attention would be to target her.

That was exactly the reason why he had sent Relena to ask him about it.

A smile spread across his lips.  The other reason why he had sent Relena to ask hero was because he shouldn't get off so easy.

Zecks wished he could be there when Relena asked him about it.

"What are you thinking about?"  Noin asked coming up beside him.

"I'm just wondering if Heero's talked to Relena yet."  Zecks said continuing to stair out the window.

"You sure like to play dirty."  The dark haired woman shook her head.  "You know how hard this is for Heero already without having to tell Relena how much she means to him."

"Perhaps, but it's about time he came clean to someone, and admit he has feelings.  He may as well tell it to the person who needs to hear it most."  He shifted his position slightly so he could see Noin's profile.  "All I did was give him a little push."

She brought her arms up to cross across he chest as he head bowed into an amused smile.  "That was a bit more than a push."

"Maybe it was, but he needed it."

"So it doesn't bother you that Heero has feelings for Relena?"

Zecks paused for a moment.  Heero had felt something for Relena long before now.  Was it really right of him to have an opinion, or even be allowed to care after so long?  "No."

He watched Noin as she raised an eyebrow at him in surprise.  "I wasn't expecting that."

"Would it matter if I did?"  He turned his head to look at her face so he could best judge her response.  "Would my comfort of feelings on the issue have an effect on weather or not they existed?"  Zecks kept his voice level.  Although the question had caught him off guard, it neither angered or displeased him.  Rather, it made him put into words things he'd been wondering about for a while now.

"I think," He started as he removed his hand from the window frame and straitened his posture.  "That even if I was able to make hero stay away from Relena, the only thing I would be doing is hurting the only family I have left."  Zecks frowned slightly.  "I could see in her eyes when I talked to her today.  She truly cares for him in ways I can only begin to understand.  It's as though all the horrible things he's done in the past don't matter to her, as long as she knows he's around to watch over her now."

Zecks fell silent for a moment before continuing.  "A thousand men in this would give anything to be with her, but I know that none of them would look after her and respect her the way Heero would."

"Your probably right."  Noin smiled, "They are an interesting pair."

"Actually, Relena reminds me of someone else I know."  Zecks wrapped his arm around Noin's waist and drew her closer to himself.

"Now, who could that be?"  She asked playfully.

Zecks allowed himself a low chuckle before he lowered his mouth to hers in a soft kiss.

Trowa stood in the trees below the Vice Foreign minister's balcony.  He had seen when the lights inside the room had been switched on, and when Heero had opened up the balcony door to step outside.  He had watched the dark haired man, who was quite obviously deep in thought, as he stared up at the sky.  He knew what the source of his contemplation was even if he hadn't talked to him this morning.  His feeling had been plainly evident since he had come back to Earth.

As he stood watching, Trowa heard someone come up and stand beside him.

"Shouldn't you still be sleeping?"  He didn't need to look around to know it was Quatre beside him.

"I suppose I should be, but I figured that you might need a little time to get ready before you left."

Trowa looked down at his glowing wrist watch.  "Three hours?"

There was the trace of a smile in the blond mans voice.  "I couldn't sleep."

Trowa's eyebrow rose at the excuse and the obvious sounds of a yawn being stifled, but decided not to peruse the matter any further.

The two men stood in companionable silence for a few minutes before Quatre broke in with a question.

"How long has Heero been standing there?"  He needed up at the darkened figure that still leaned against the balcony doors.

"Not very long.  They just made it to Relena's room."

"I don't suppose that they've had time to talk much then."

Saying he was surprised would not have covered the extent of the feeling Trowa had at the words he had just heard.  If he hadn't been standing right there he wouldn't have believed the note of disappointment in Quatre's voice.  "You've never been the impatient one.  That usually gets left to Duo."

"I think Duo's impatience has worn off on me."

"I see."  He allowed a small smile to pass over his face before Quatre got back to business.

~*~*~

A/N : Okay, I know, I know.  It's been an extremely long time since my last update, and this is more of a teaser then a real chapter, but I thought, hey!  I might as well put up what I have, right?  Anyways, I do have more planned after this part, but I haven't had a whole lot of time to fix it up the way I want it.  Also, I've been finding certain inconsistancys with what I've written in previous chapters and the newer chapters.  That means that I have to go back and change some of the things that I've already done, and then resubmit them so that the story will make more sense. -_-*  It's going to be a lot of work.

Anyways, on a brighter note, I would like to thank all the people who have spent the time to read my crappy little fic, and leave me reviews.  You have no idea what that means to me.  I know I say it all the time, and that by now you've all learned to tune it out, but it really does inspire me to get my butt moving and get more done.  I have no names, You all know who you are.  ^_^   * Point's around the room * 

So read what I have, and let me know what you think.  Don't be too harsh, k?  I can only take so much.

~Eden


	15. Part 15

Disclaimer : I do not own Gundam Wing or it's associated characters.  Much to my dismay.  Of course I do claim rights to this particular story and any new characters I decide to throw in here. Eternal Promises 

By Eden

Part 15 

"So how long is it going to take you to find the location of the transmitting computer?"  Quatre asked Trowa as the two continued to keep watch of the balcony above.

Trowa scratched the back of his neck, sore from lack of sleep from the last couple days.  "About twelve hours by plane to Western Canada, and then another couple hours by car to the exact address."  He lowered his hand to his side once again.  "Luckily the location is in a city."

Quatre, also showing signs of his obvious tiredness, pushed some hair back from his forehead.  "Your right."  He answered. "It won't look as suspicious if you go to a location in a populated area.  The more remote the location, the higher the chances of you being discovered."

"The kidnappers must've been thinking the same thing when they planted and used that computer.  No one would think it was strange if a single computer in the middle of a large city received a satellite transmission like the one that was re routed to us, but they would if it was in a more isolated area."

"You have to give them credit.  Not man people would've thought about all of the ways they would need to cover their tracks just so that they wouldn't get caught with conventional means."

"Your right."

The night had seemed to get cooler all of a sudden with the beginnings of an icy breeze.  While he zipped up his jacket a little more, Trowa looked up once again towards the balcony where Relena had joined Heero outside.  As he watched, he saw the young woman hand Heero a decent shirt to put on.

_Well,_ Trowa thought absently, _He had looked rather cold in just his tank top_.  He smiled a small smile that grew once he heard Quatre speak beside him.

"At least one of them has some sense."

Even in the darkness, Trowa could tell Quatre was grinning.  The two men looked at each other for a moment and sighed.

"Perhaps it's time we let them get a little privacy."

"After you."  Trowa motioned towards the walkway behind them.

As Quatre turned and began walking down the stone walkway, Trowa took one last look up to where Relena and Heero were talking before following.  "She had better know about everything by the time I get back, Heero."

Relena shivered, and tried to wrap her robe more tightly around herself while she tilted her head to look higher in the sky. "I love to come out here and just watch the stars before I go to bed at night. I find it relaxing. What about you?"   
  
Heero thought for a moment before answering. "Looking at them gives perspective on things."

"Yes, it does."  Relena brought her arms to wrap around herself to ward off the cold.

He hesitated for a moment before covering the distance between the two of them and gently wrapping his arms around her from behind.  Heero felt her stiffen for a moment before she relaxed into the embrace.

They stood that way, both of them unmoving, for a short time while Heero's mind raced.  This was the closest he had been to Relena while she was awake since he had come back.  It was surprising to him that he could miss the feeling of her body in his arms when he had only held her perhaps three or four times the entire time he had known her.  But he couldn't deny the calming feeling he got having her slim frame against his own.

"I'm glad you're here, Heero."  Relena's quietly spoken words shattered the silence between them.  "You always show up when I need you."

Heero lowered his chin to rest on the top of her head and tightened his grip on her waist.  "I promised you a long time ago that I would protect you, and I meant it."

She sighed, and he felt her body sag a bit.  "So when this is all over, are you going to leave again?"

His eyes widened briefly in surprise before answering.  "That depends"

Relena couldn't believe what she was hearing.  Heero was considering staying after everything calmed down?  She turned around in his grip to face him and placed her hands on his shoulders.  She was faintly aware that his hands did not move or loosen from their grip on her waist.  "Depends on what?"  Relena made sure she had his eyes looking into her own.

"A lot of things."  His tone was serious, and it reflected within the depths of his eyes.

She took a deep breath.  This was about as nerve wracking as getting a tooth pulled.  Relena felt something akin to desperation.  She needed to know this, needed Heero to tell her.  "Tell me the most important thing it depends on."

When Heero did answer, his voice was barely over a whisper, but she heard it nonetheless.  A single syllable word that could do so much had never felt so precious to her.  "You."

Their gazes locked, and Relena felt her heart speed up.  "What?"  She whispered back.  Her fingers curled to bunch the sweatshirt she had given him at his shoulders.  A strange look passed across his face and she continued quickly.  "I heard you the first time, but I want to hear you say it again."

Heero's face relaxed and he leaned towards her until there faces were almost touching.  "It depends on you."

Tears began forming in her eyes.  Relena had been waiting for so long to hear anything like this come from her elusive soldier, that anything that hinted towards a confession of his feelings seemed overwhelming.  Her hands relaxed on his shoulders and she felt herself go weak.  "Heero."

Heero's hands, that had been placed so gently on her hips before were now helping her to remain standing as she stared up at his face.  Their gazes had locked, and Relena smiled.  "If it's up to me, then I don't want you to ever leave."

Relena could've sworn that his eyes flashed with surprise, but it was gone a moment later, replaced with another emotion.  At first she wasn't able to tell what it was, but once Heero's arms tightened around her waist and held the two of them together more firmly, it was fairly self evident.

There was just enough light to seen that the stormy depths of Heero's eyes were full of passion, enough to make Relena's already weak knees tremble slightly.  Their faces were so close together now.  Heero's head was bent towards hers and made it easy for her to tilt her chin up and meet his lips with her own.

At first neither of them moved.  Their lips just rested softly against one another.  Relena felt her heart speed up as tiny shivers traveled up her spine.  Was this really happening?  Was the pressure of Heero's lips pressed against her own real, or what it all just a dream?

All at once, things changed.  Their lips were no longer simply pressed together, but moving against each other.  Heero's mouth was soft and gentle, Relena's foggy mind though as she also felt his hand come up to tangle in the hair at the base of her head.  Any doubt she had earlier about the reality of the situation was now completely dispelled.  Nothing could've felt more real, or more amazing then what Heero was slowly doing to her.

Relena's body was weak; she could barely keep herself on her feet.  Her hands tightened themselves once more on Heero's shoulders.  Their kiss seemed to grow deeper with the minute.  Each time their lips moved together, Relena felt a little more of her control slip away.  Wave after wave of pleasure washed over her body until she was lost, and drowning.

A small moan escaped her lips.  Heero took advantage of the situation and began to explore her mouth with his tongue.  She felt him pass her teeth, and almost moaned again when he brushed past her own tongue.

She loved the taste of him.  The things that she associated with Heero like the warm comfortable taste of coffee, were a part of his own captivating flavor.  It was comforting in some way, she was almost able to imagine that the kidnapping hadn't happened and that Heero was with here during normal circumstances.  What would something like that feel like really?  Her mind idly wandered as she felt Heero deepen their kiss.

Feelings Relena didn't know she had flowed through her body and awakened all of her senses.  Her heart pounded, and when she moved her hands to Heero's chest, she felt his pounding as well.

A moment later when Heero pulled his mouth away from hers she still wasn't in complete control of her body.  Relena opened her eyes only to have them captured with his own.  She felt like she could stair into his eyes all night, allow herself to be swept away into their stormy depths.

Vaguely Relena realized how wonderful it felt to be held by Heero, to have her body pressed up against his, and to be surrounded by his comforting arms.  It didn't matter how much she tried, she couldn't think of a single time in her life when she had felt as happy as she did now.

Even as she thought it, she felt a small smile tugging up at the corner of her mouth.  "You realize that you can't leave me now, even if you wanted to?"

"I wouldn't," Was Heero's response.  His eyes were suddenly filled with another emotion Relena wasn't used to seeing him express.  "I made you a promise."

"You did."  Without knowing why, her voice softened.

She wanted this, she wanted to stay with Heero the way they were at this moment and just forget about everything else.  Forget about the kidnappers, the ESUN, and all of her obligations to everyone.  It was a selfish wish, Relena knew as soon as she made it, but she just couldn't help it.

She had grown up never wanting for anything, had lived a life of privilege.  Even after the war, and after her childhood was nothing more then a memory, she still lived well.  Relena still never had to worry about where her next meal was coming from, or weather or not she'd be able to afford a new suit for work.  Granted, now she gave much of what she had back to the people with the work she did as the Vice Foreign Minister, but she was still extremely well off in many ways.

While she had more money, fame and popularity then anyone had a right to ask for, Relena has always known she was missing something.  For a long time now she had known what it was, but had also known that it was out of her reach.  So she had waited until now, when the object of her desire and love was with her and left no doubts in her mind about his intentions.

Was it truly wrong for someone who had so much in life to wish for one more thing?  If it really was, then Relena would have gladly given up everything she had been given, just so that she could make her one wish come true.

Heero watched as Relena's smile faulted and then slid off of her face entirely.

"What's wrong?"  He asked her, gently brushing a finger across her cheek, and then down towards the junction between her top and lower lip.

She frowned slightly.  "It's just that no matter how happy I am, I can't forget the reason why you came back.  I can't forget about being kidnapped without a real reason."

Heero stopped stroking her check.  It was coming.  She was going to ask him what he knew about the kidnappers like she had earlier.  But she surprised him.  Instead of turning a questioning eye to him, she sighed and leaned her forehead to rest on his shoulder. 

"Why Heero?" She asked, her voice muffled slightly against the sweatshirt.  "Why is this happening to me again?  Is there a reason why every rebel group in existence thinks that it would be a good idea to kidnap me?"

Heero allowed his one hand to drop back down to her waist and tightened his hold on her.  He knew that he should've expected something like this sooner or later.  Taking a deep breath, he answered her question with one of his own.  "Do you want to know why every rebel group is after you, or just the one that kidnapped you this time?"

_Coward_!  He shouted at himself mentally.  He should just come out and tell her what he knew she wanted to know, instead of beating around the bush.

"Start with the one that got me this time.  I'll think about the other ones later."  Relena's voice interrupted his thoughts, and snapped him back to reality.

He took another breath, this one more slowly.  He was still hesitant to tell her what they thought they knew.  "Are you sure you want to know?"

There was a moment of silence before she began speaking.  "It's not a matter of wanting to know, I need to know."  Relena raised her head slightly to look at him.  "I need to know why so many people feel that I'm such an easy target.  It can't only be because I'm the Vice Foreign Minister, or because of the disarmament.  There must be something else, some other reason that I just don't know about."

She stopped speaking and her gaze grew slightly curious and suspicious.  "Do you really know why they targeted me this time, Heero?"

He swallowed.  There was no way for him to get around her gaze.  "I believe so."

Violet eyes flashed briefly.  "Please tell me?"

Her voice struck a chord inside of him.  Heero realized not for the first time how much Relena needed to know about this, and he instantly regretted no being able to tell her sooner.

He gave her one more squeeze around the waist before dropping his arms and taking her hand in his own.  She tried to protest when he began leading her into her room, but when he turned to face her, the words she was about to speak died on her lips.

"It's cold, and I think you've been out here long enough."  Heero turned again and resumed taking Relena with him back into her room.  "We can continue the rest of this conversation inside."

He closed and locked the balcony doors after then and lead the young woman to sit down on her bed.  Heero sat down beside her, and felt the soft mattress sink under his weight.  Now that he was inside he has begun to think of the perfect way to phrase his bit of information.  It wasn't an easy thing to do.  It wasn't like he could just strait out tell her the reason for her kidnapping, he had to gently lead her into it.  So after steeling his posture, and setting his jaw, he began his explanation.

Heero raised his eyes to watch Relena's expression as she listened to what he had to say.

"When I first heard that you had been kidnapped the first thing that came to my mind after I got over the shock was that it had been political.  Of course, after listening to what the kidnappers made you tell us during your broadcast, Zecks' first suspicion turned out to be correct."

"And what was that?"

Heero was still fighting a battle within himself about how to go about answering this question.  He didn't have any more excuses to stall with, and knew that stalling would only be putting off the inevitable, and hurting Relena.  He had no desire to do either.

"It's because of me."

A/N: I know, I know.  Another cliffy.  But, just so that you know, I didn't do it on purpose!!  Honestly!  It's just that I had to end this part somewhere, and this seemed like as good a spot as any. 

So again, I am sorry for the late update, but take solace in the fact that there is an update.  While I may no longer be in school, I am now working, and it's no laughing matter.  My hours have been brutal, and don't leave me with much extra time for writing.

I would like to thank all of the people who have taken the time to leave and send me comments and reviews.  They are very much appreciated.

Till next time then,

Eden


	16. Part 16

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or any of it's ascociated characters, much to my dismay and pain. Of course, while I cannot claim them, I do claim ownership of this particular story and any original characters I happen to throw in.

**Eternal Promises**

By Eden

"_When I first heard that you had been kidnapped the first thing that came to my mind after I got over the shock was that it had been political. Of course, after listening to what the kidnappers made you tell us during your broadcast, Zecks' first suspicion turned out to be correct."_

"_And what was that?"_

_Heero was still fighting a battle within himself about how to go about answering this question. He didn't have any more excuses to stall with, and knew that stalling would only be putting off the inevitable, and hurting Relena. He had no desire to do either._

"_It's because of me."  
_

**Part 16**

"It's because of me."

Heero was surpised at how calm his voice sounded. "Whoever kidnapped you was trying to get to me. They somehow know about our past, and knew that the easyiest way to get to me would be through you."

A couple things happned in the next few moments. Heero watched as emotions passed across Relena's face; starting with shock, then relief, then slowly changing to confusion. He felt her hand move to rest ontop of his own. "Why on earth would someone want to come after you?"

He shook his head slowly. "I don't know who or why someone would be interested in me, but it's not like I haven't done anything to warrent this sort of pursuit."

"It was a war Heero." Relena sait, instantly understanding what he spoke of. "Everyone did terrible things for what they believed was right. I know that, and so do many others who saw things up close." Her expression was now serious as she watched him carefully through her clear violet eyes.

He spoke slowly. "Your right, but that still dosn't rule out the cause of this sudden interest in me."

Relena nodded and was silent for a moment while she seemed to be contemplating.

"I wish I could remember his name," She said finally, her voice was soft and earnist. "I know that the discription of a tall blond man dosn't really help a thing, but for some reasson that's all I can remember."

Heero had never been good with, or had much practice with comforting words. Even now, two years after the war and the fighting had stopped he hadn't had much opportunity to use them.

Carefully Heero moved his hoand out from under Relena's and reached up to brush back a strand of her hair. "You did everything that you could do, no one can ask more of you then that."

"But I should be able to give you so much more" Relena frowned. "I staired right at him, I spoke with him, and he told me his name. At the very least, I should be able to give you a discription, but it's as though my mind was wiped blank. All I can remember is a veague discription, and his general traits."

"We're much better off with a small bit of information then none at all."

Relena turned to face him, her eyes carefully taking stock of what she saw.

"What is it?" He asked after giving her a moment of silent observation.

* * *

Heero had changed more then she had realized over the two years they had been seperated, and Relena was only realizing it now. How could she have been so stupid? Of course he had changed! Everyone had. Two years without war was enough to change anyone, especially someone who had been involed with it as much as Heero had.

But still, . . . she couldn't help the way her heart fluttered at his kind words, and the way her skin warmed at his touch. He was gentler then she remembered him being, and the though made her shiver with joy.

"Relena?" Herro's voice brought her back to reality. She could feel her cheeks flush with embarrasment.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to space out like that."

"What is it? Are you alright?"

She turned to face him again, and squeezed his hand in what she hoped was a reasuring gesture. "I'm fine, I guess I'm just tired. It's been a long day after all."

Heero reguarded her carefully, and after a moment nodded. "Your right. I'm sorry for keeping you up so long."

"No, it's fine. I'm glad that you did. Thank you for telling me what you know about the kidnappers. It helps to just know about them a little more."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner, but I wasn't sure how to tell you. I didn't know how you would react." Deep prussian eyes met hers.

She knew that he meant every word he spoke. It was as though by looking into those endless pools she could see the number of times he had thought about telling her, but hadn't. It didn't matter though. He had told her, even if it had taken a while, and for that she was thankfull.

Relena smiled at him. "I know, it's okay."

* * *

Heero could hardly contain his relief. Relena didn't seem to be angry at him for not telling her about the kidnappers sooner, but instead seemed to understand. The eavning was going quite well.

He heard the bathroom door open and the soft padded footsteps of Relena moving across the carpeted floor towards her bed. His eyes followed her, watching her slender form, covered only by a long thin nightgown slowly pull back the comforter, and crawl underneath the bedsheets.

Just as the night before, he was seated across the room in a chair that gave him a good view of both Relena's bed, and of the locked balcony doors. Right now, he wasn't paying much attention to the doors.

After she has crawled under the covers she took a moment to arrange the comforter across her legs. As he watched; Relena's mouth opened slightly, almost as though she wanted to say something to him. Before she uttered a single word though, she slowly shook her head and turned her lips up into a smile.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing." She answered continuting to smile. "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

It may have been his imagination, but Heero could've sworn that Relena's cheeks got slightly flushed before she answered. "Just that it must get rather uncomfortable sitting in that chair all night long."

Heero shrugged his shoulders. "Its not that bad. I've been in worse situations then this."

She let out a small laugh. "Yes, I suppose that your right. These are hardly rough conditions, but still I'm not sure that I like the idea of you spending all night awake again."

"I slept all afternoon, I'll be fine tonight. You don't have to worry."

His words seemed to do little to comfort her. She fixed him with a pointed gaze before speaking again. "You know what I mean. I doubt that if anyone came into this room in a second attempt to kidnap me, or get to you, that either of us would fail to wake up."

"Your probably right, but I'd rather have you safe then see something happen to you because of my negligence."

Relena didn't make a move to respond to this last comment. She had fixed her gaze on her lap, and seemed to be thinking.

He hesitated for a moment before standing up and crossing the short distance between his chair and her bed. Once there, he sat down facing her. "You really should get some rest."

An amused smile passed across Relena's lips. "Your always telling me that."

Heero allowed the corner of his mouth to raise slightly. "I suppose I am. I can't help it."

She continued to smile up at him, and then let out a small sigh. "Right now," She said. "I'm going to sleep right now."

"Good." He said taking hold of her hand and bringing it to his lips. He had to admit, he enjoyed hearing the small sound she made when his lips met her skin. When he looked up, her lips were parted slightly in surprise as she watched him.

"Heero," He heard her start to say as he leaned forward and captured her lips with his own.

Everything about Relena was soft and sweet, as he was only beginning to discover. It was addicting to be connected to her like this, and he knew that it was only going to get harder and harder to pull away from her as time went on. Hell it was hard now.

Reluctently he ended the kiss and leaned back to look at her. Relena's eyes opened the instant their lips were no longer touching. Her face was flushed, and she was slightly out of breath just as he was. There was no mistaking the surprise in her eyes. She clearly had not been expecting the kiss.

"Goodnight Relena." Heero said softly before turning off the bedside lamp, and standing up to return to his chair.

He had just gotten himself comfortable when he heard the blankts rustling from the direction of Relena's bed as she did the same. After a moment the sound stopped. He strained to hear more closely, but the only sounds he could make out where those of soft even breathing. He leaned back in his chair again, thinking that Relena had fallen asleep quickly, but was surprised by the soft whisper he was just able to make out in the darkness.

"Goodnight Heero."

* * *

She was tied up, bound hand and foot. The room was dark, just as it had been before, and the strange frightning man was present again. He was leaning over her, his face obscured in the darkness. His breath blew sickly warm against her cheek as he spoke to her in the same distorted voice.

"You think that you'll get away from me now that you think you know the truth? You only know the half of it my dear." His teeth glowed large and white as he smiled crulelly.

Relena struggled against the ropes, trying to twist herself away from the offending and terrifying figure.

"I am still going to come for you. You may not be who I was after in the beginning, but I've found that you are just too dear to me to give up compleatly."

As he continued to speak, Relena tried unsucessfully to contain a scream. She could feel him touching her hair, running his hands through it. She cringed as she felt him bring a strand of it up to his face, and as he took a deep breath.

"Let me go," She pleaded, trying to ignore the revulsion she felt towards this person. "I promise no one will come after you, just let me go!"

"You think it's just that easy, don't you?" He was leaning directly over her now, his hands gripping her upper arms unconfortably tight. "You think that I can just let you leave without any harm coming to you at all? Without proving how serious I am?"

Her breathing was fast and shallow as she continued to struggle under his tight grip, and that of the bounds still holding fast. "I believe you! You don't have to prove a thing to me! Just let me go, please!"

"It's alright, Relena." The figure's distorted voice warped even more, becoming scratchy and then suddenly deeper toned. "It's only a dream."

"No," She gasped as the grip became unbearablly tight. "Let me go! Leave me alone!"

"It's just a dream," The voice went on, the once meanacing tone had turned slightly desprate. Or had her ears begun to betray her as well?

"Wake up, Relena. Wake up!"

* * *

"Relena!"

She didn't know what she was doing, or where she was. All she knew was that she had to get away.

Somehow she knew that it was easier to fight back now that her limbs were no longer bound, but she didn't take the time to think about this. She also didn't stop to wonder why the voice calling out her name was no longer distorted, or why the hands that were gripping her upper arms no longer seemed to cut into the flesh painfully, but held her carefully.

Without really thinking about it, realization set in, and Relena suddenly stopped struggling.

"It's all right, it was just a dream."

The reasurring words that had pulled her out of the dream, and awakened her came back, but not as a memory. They were softly being spoken into her ear as the protective arms took advantage of the fact she was no longer fighting to get away.

"Heero?"

"I'm here," He said pulling her more firmly into his embrace. "Your alright now."

With those words it was as though he sucked every bit of fight she had out of her. She felt her body collapse against Heero's firm chest, and burried her face deep into the shoulder of the sweatshirt he still wore. He was real, and everything else had been just a horrible dream.

She didn't move away from him right away. Relena felt her heartbeat slow and return to normal, her breathing slowed, and all the tension in her body melted away. When she was finally sure that she was truly awake, she raised her head off of Heero's shoulder.

"Are you alright now?" Relena could detect nothing but concern in Heero's voice.

She nodded. "Yes, thank you. for waking me up."

"It's alright." He was silent for a moment, his hands still gripping her arms as though afraid to let go. "Do you think you could go back to sleep?"

Relena nodded again.

"Good," He said reaching up with one hand that had been on her arm to brush back some of the hair that had fallen into her face. "You should try to sleep if you can."

"Will you stay with me?"

"I promise I won't leave."

She took a deep breath in. "I mean while I sleep. Will you lay with me?"

Silence.

In all honesty, Relena wasn't surprised. She wasn't even sure what had possesed her to ask him if he would. All she could think of was how she wanted him to stay near her so that she could draw off of the stregnth and security he gave her without realizing it. She fully expected him to get up and move back to his chair across the room.

"Alright."

Stunned wasn't a strong enough word to discribe what she was feeling at that moment. Dumfounded might've come closer, but it still wasn't right. Relena thought that she had heard him wrong for a moment, until he made a move to change positions beside her.

Suddenly her mind began to work again. She moved over to make room for him to lay down next to her. He moved to make himself more comfortable in the spot, but that was when he stopped moving.

Relena had leaned back against the mound of pillows resting against her headboard, and was watching Heero. Once he had stopped moving around, he'd turned his head to towards her to do the same. Neither of them seemed able to make the first move.

After forming her resolve, Relena finally made a small move towards Heero. Slowly she reached out her hand to rest on his chest, appreciating the firmness of the body underneath his bulky shirt. She felt him reciprocate by bringing his arm up to wrap around her back to pull her forwards against his body.

_Finally_, Relena though to herself as they both sank back togeather to rest against the pile of pillows behind their heads. This was where she wanted to be, this was where she felt safe. Wrapped up in Heero's warm protective arms. She sighed and tried to pull herself closer to his body.

She had no way of knowing how long he would stay with her tonight, or when they would have another moment like this. All that Relena knew for sure was that for tonight at least, she would be able to sleep without anymore nightmairs.

A/N : I know it's been a while since my last update, and I would like to apoligize again for that, but this was not compleatly my fault. I had some computer problems last month, and ended up compleatly loosing this chapter once. I'm usually pritty good, and I try to save all my writing to disc because of the potential for those types of things happening, but for some stupid reasson, this one chapter got missed. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk, eh? It did get finished eventually One other thing I would like to apoligize for, is the last few paragraphs of this chapter. I tried for a couple hours to get them just right, but I had to give up. Chalk it up to the time of night, or whatever, but they suck in my opinion. If I get a chance I'll try to rewrite them later, but for now I just wanted to get this part posted.

Thanks again for the wonderful support you have all given to me and this fic. It's very much appreciated.

Till next time all!

Eden


	17. Part 17

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or any of its associated characters, much to my dismay and pain. Of course, while I cannot claim them, I do claim ownership of this particular story and any original characters I happen to throw in.

**Eternal Promises******

By Eden

**Part 17**

Duo silently made his way through the darkened, deserted hallways of the Peacecraft mansion. His footsteps and any sound they many have produced was effectively muffled by the thick floor runner. The deep red color was only distinguishable directly under the dim lamps that were mounted on the walls every few feet, and whose main purpose was to avoid accidents by people wandering around at night. Duo himself had no need of them, in fact he was quite comfortable in the dark, but he couldn't help appreciating the nice touch they made to the mansion.

He had been up for a couple hours already and still had an hour or so to kill before he had to go and relieve Wufei for his watch outside Relena's door. He was refreshed, (from the eight hour 'nap' he'd managed to get that afternoon and night) he was fed, (having been surprised when he had opened the refrigerator that evening to see Pagan had made him a plate full of food just waiting to be heated up) and now he was board.

Usually when he was faced with this dilemma, Duo found someone he knew who could entertain him in some fashion, but all the really good people were busy with other things currently. Heero was with Relena, he thought with a lopsided smile, Zecks should be sleeping somewhere; Wufei would just up and let him start his shift early if he tried to bug him, and Hildi was up on L2.

Duo stopped walking long enough to turn himself around and back track his steps. That last thought got him thinking. The last time he had talked to Hildi was before they had gone to get Relena, and he was sure that it was past time to give her another call. He had long since learned that tempting the patience of the female gender was not something you wanted to make a habit of. They could make a man's life living Hell in so many ways . . .

He rounded a hallway corner and found himself in front of a partially open door. After flipping on the overhead light, and a quick inspection of the room inside, Duo found that it was exactly what he had been looking for. It was a spare office, quite possibly used by any guests who stayed in the mansion to conduct business while away from their normal place of work. It had all the basic furnishings, an oak desk with a soft looking leather chair behind it, bookshelf's filled with different sorts of reference books, and on the desk, the thing he was after, was the vid-phone.

Grinning slightly at his success, Duo closed the door before moving behind the desk and sitting down in the comfortable plush chair. With a few well-practiced keystrokes, he turned the machine on and had dialed the number for the home Hildi and he had shared for the last 4 years.

As he leaned back in the chair, he counted the rings.

Three, . . . fore, . . .. Just one ring left till the answering message picked up—

Suddenly Hildi's dark, tousled head appeared on the screen.

"Duo!" She cried with a large smile, "I knew you would call."

The braided man chuckled. "If you knew I was going to call, then why did it take you so long to answer the phone?"

"Well it's not my fault I expected you to call earlier." The young woman narrowed her eyes slightly, "I fell asleep waiting for you."

"Sorry babe, I would've called earlier, but I'm not exactly keeping normal hours right now."

"I figured as much." Hildi smiled, "So tell me, how did it go getting Miss Relena from the drop off point? She's okay isn't she?"

"Yeah, she's okay. Actually things went well. There wasn't anyone guarding her, waiting to ambush us when we came to pick her up. It was all done just the way the kidnappers had said they would do it." Duo crossed his arms as he leaned back in the soft chair, his eyes lowered so they were no longer focused on the woman staring out of the screen at him. "Everything went just like it was supposed to."

He was silent for a few moments as he contemplated the diplomat's retrieval. Duo stopped his contemplation only once Hildi's voice broke through the silence.

"So that bothers you, doesn't it?"

Letting out a haggard sigh, Duo returned his gaze to the young woman's eyes. "I hate to say it because it worked out so well, but yeah. It does bother me. It was a little too perfect that they didn't put up much of a fight, but actually gave Relena back without any problems. Even if she wasn't the person they were interested in, they still managed to get a hold of a valuable bargaining chip, its strange they would give her back without any demands whatsoever."

"The kidnappers didn't mention wanting Relena at all?" Hildi looked as though she was beginning to loose herself to the subject as well.

"No, they didn't."

"But you know something your not telling me, don't you?"

Duo looked up, trying not to give away his surprise in his face. Damn this woman was good. He supposed that she just knew him too well. He ran his hand through his bangs as he tried to think of the best way to get around the subject without really answering her question. "Well, I'm not really sure what I know, Zechs brought up the only logical choice first. He said it was either Heero or him the kidnappers could possibly be after, but the more I think about it, the more I think it has to be Heero."

On the screen, Duo watched as Hildi placed her elbows on the table in front of her, and rested her chin on her hands. "That would be the most reasonable assumption, considering that no one was sure if Zechs was even still alive after all of the fighting. The kidnappers would've been taking a huge chance if it had been Zechs they were trying to pull out of hiding." She tilted her head so that her cheek was resting more fully in the palm of her left hand. She contemplated for a moment. "I doubt anyone kidnapping Relena would want to take such a chance that the person they were wanting to draw out may not even be alive."

"Oh your defiantly right on that one." Duo rubbed his eyes with the heals of his hands.

"So you guys have been checking up on all the temporary staff that has come into Relena's home and office over the last six months or so, right? Doing background checks and such, trying to see if any of them may have been involved with an illegal organization, or just a rebel military faction. I mean, its only been a couple of days, but still, you guys should've come up with at least a couple suspicious people."

Duo lowered his hands from his eyes slowly, "Oh yeah," he said in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone. "We started that even before we brought Relena back from Brussels. We've had a few hits, a couple of them look promising."

He glanced up at the screen just in time to see a grin flash across Hildi's eleven features. "Well then, all you have to do now is check them out more, and wait for the results to come in. I mean, whoever did arrange for Relena's kidnapping must've had some kind of surveillance installed inside the building, or insiders working at keeping tabs on everyone, learning schedules and security patterns, looking for the best time for an infiltration. It would've been an extremely well laid out plan."

Trying to keep his face stoic Duo nodded, and leaned back in his chair.

"Sooo," The dark haired girl leaned closer to the screen and smiled wickedly, "Are you going to tell me about these leads you have? I mean, maybe I could help you out!"

"Oh Hildi, how you tempt me, but you know that's classified. Really hush hush like."

"I'll bet you don't have anything to go on."

He looked at her, shocked at her accusation. "You wound me! Do you really think I would've forgotten to check something as simple as backgrounds for previous staff?"

She laughed "Yeah, your right. I mean, you may be forgetful, but this is the stuff you know best, right? I'm sure you'll catch who your looking for in no time."

"Darn right we will."

It was about half an hour after his conversation with Hildi had ended pleasantly that Duo sauntered down the hallway towards Relena's room. As expected, Wufei was in position on the chair placed directly beside the doorway, and just as expected was the tight look he was now receiving from the former Shenlong pilot.

"Your late, Maxwell."

Duo stretched his hands up in the air and casually crossed them behind his head. "I was busy, sorry."

A snort, or something that sounder suspiciously like it could be the beginnings of laughter escaped from the normally serious Chinese man. "Busy? With what? Trashing the kitchen like you did last night when you were hungry? Don't try to deny it, I saw the mess you left this morning."

"I didn't trash the kitchen!" Duo protested adamantly, "I just made myself something to eat! Its not my fault that I didn't know where they kept the measuring cup."

Wufei let out another snort of almost-laughter.

"But for your information, no I wasn't in the kitchen. I was working on something that might help us find out who the kidnappers were."

Abruptly Wufei narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me if I have a hard time believing that one."

Without responding, Duo lowered his arms from above his head and slipped a disc out of his pants pocket. He held it up to the dim light the hallway had to offer, as though checking to be sure it was the right one, then flipped it over to Wufei.

The Chinese man caught it easily and flipped it over in his hand for a moment. "What is this?"

"It's a list of all the temporary staff that have been employed by Relena for work in her home and office for the last six months. The list includes any employees that are part of contracted companies and basically anyone who had access to either of these buildings."

"So you hacked into the security database."

"Really, I'm surprised the Preventers hadn't thought of this sooner." Duo returned himself back to his previous stance, with both his hands behind his head.

Wufei narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you came up with this on your own. Who have you been talking too?"

Simply ignoring the question, Duo went on. "Someone needs to run detailed background checks on everyone on that list. Anything that looks slightly suspicious needs to be checked out and followed up on. Are you in?"

"Do you have any idea how long it will take to do that? We're not talking about a couple hours of work here, this could take days."

The braided man shrugged, and lowered his hands once more, this time to reach for the disc still held loosely in Wufei's hand. "Well If your not up for it, I suppose I could always wake up Quatre or ask Heero. You know how Heero is, he'll stay up working on it until he has a definite answer." His hand had just closed over the disc, and was about to pull it out of Wufei's grasp when Duo felt it jerked out of his own hand.

"I'll do it."

"But Wu-man, you know how long its gonna take, you said it yourself. Let me just ask Heero, he'll won't rest till he's got an answer for us." Duo sighed tragicly, "I'd do it myself, but I've gotta sit here till morning, and I think that's just time wasted if this is left in my hands."

"I said I'd do it." Wufei said getting up from the wooden chair and beginning to walk down the hallway the way Duo had come.

"I knew you'd be good for it, Wu-man. Thanks."

Wufei grumbled in response as Duo lost sight of him down the hallway.

He grinned to himself. _Sucker._

As Heero felt the soft morning sunlight touch his face he turned over onto his other side and pulled the blankets up to his eyes. He was feeling too incredibly comfortable to get up just yet and face the day. His mind was still functioning laggardly due to the fact that Mother Nature had only just disturbed him from his first dreamless sleep in as long as he could remember.

Without opening his eyes, Heero breathed in and let out a long sigh. With one hand he slowly reached out across the sheets and found them to be empty and still slightly warm, as though the person who had been occupying them had only just vacated them. Dimly, he wondered where the other person had gone; he knew it was something important he should know.

As his still tired mind struggled to formulate an answer for his confusion, his body appreciated the comfortable feeling of the soft mattress and bedding he was laying in. If the warm sunlight against his back proved anything, it was that he was most defiantly not in his bed on the Mars Base. Even the simulated sun in the most advanced colonies could never compare to the way the real thing felt first thing in the morning.

That's right, he was on Earth. But why was he on Earth? Heero vaguely remembered the shuttle trip with Zecks and Noin. He had come here with them for a reason; on an important mission; and important reason . . . if he could only—

Suddenly his eyes popped open and he shot up startled in the bed he was laying in: Relena's bed. His mind seemed to suddenly light up, and he remembered everything; including how he had ended up laying down in said bed to start with.

Of course; Relena had been with him last night, now the other half of the bed was empty with nothing to show she had ever been there, except for the still slightly warm sheets. Now that his mind was functioning normally, he was able to rationalize that she had gotten up only recently.

Without wasting another moment, Heero pushed the heavy comforter off of his legs and brought his feet to the floor. His eyes quickly scanned the room, and found it to be exactly the way it had been last night. Lowering his gaze, he trained his ears for any sounds coming from anywhere in the room that may indicate where Relena was, but was met with only silence. He scowled as he quickly jammed his feet into his shoes he'd left beside the bed. She was defiantly not looking for something to wear in the closet, as indicated by the closed door, or in the bathroom, he concluded as he passed it on the way towards the hallway door.

Suddenly he paused and turned to head back towards to balcony doors. Heero was positive that Relena hadn't been taken against her will; there was no sign of struggle in the room; but she said that the first time she had been taken, the kidnappers had used chloroform. If she had been sleeping, struggling wouldn't have been an issue.

Heero felt a knot grow tight in his stomach. He knew it had been a bad idea to lay with Relena in her bed last night. He knew he should've listened to the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that might've seemed a little paranoid; but had never steered him wrong.

His feet stopped in front of the glass doors and he proceeded to scrutinize them for any sign of the forced entrance he feared. Even as he did so he continued to berate himself for allowing Relena to convince him to go against his better judgment. When had he changed so much? There used to be a time when it would've been the simplest thing to turn her down, and completely focus on the mission at hand. It wouldn't have mattered to him if she had been hurt or disappointed, as long as the mission assigned to him was followed through.

But that itself was exactly the problem; Heero realized as he confirmed that the doors hadn't been tampered with. What he'd failed to take into account was one simple fact: he cared. He cared so much; and his feelings were in so deep at this point that he didn't think he could distance himself from Relena any longer if he tried. There was no turning back now, no matter how complicated and frustrating things got.

Frowning he turned on his heel and headed back towards the hallway door. Things had been so much simpler when he hadn't cared at all.

It only took Heero a moment to open the door and step into the hallway. The first thing he noticed was the empty chair beside the door where Wufei had been the night before, and where Duo should've been now. As his mind took into account this new information; he began to come up with new possible scenarios as to what had happened to Relena. None of them were looking good; for him.

His feet started moving down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen and dining room. With each footstep, his dread of facing the knowing smiles and nods he would undoubtedly get if Relena had just gone down to breakfast without him grew. The last thing he needed was more people with a hidden interest in his personal life. Heero sped up his pace.

When he reached the top of the stairs leading down to the front foyer, Heero stopped and felt his insides clench up again. Relena was slowly making her way up the stairs, balancing a tray full of food she was still wearing her nightgown, but had covered it up with a warm looking robe. Her honey hair, still slightly tussled from sleep, glinted in the morning sunshine coming in through the large windows. As his eyes continued to take in all the subtle things about her appearance; she looked up the stairs and caught sight of him.

A smile formed on her lips. "Good morning, Heero."

Heero faintly realized he was still frowning as he nodded his head slightly to acknowledge the greeting. He also noticed that his facial expression didn't seem to faze Relena, who continued to carefully make her way up the stairway with the heavy looking tray.

It actually seemed as though it might be too heavy for her. The last thing that he wanted was her hurting herself over a tray. As soon as she made it up the last step, he lifted the tray from her grasp. She faltered for a second; tried to protest; but then smiled up at him. "Thank you, Heero."

He grunted his reply as he prepared to continue following her back to her room. But to his surprise; she turned and took a few steps back down the stairway and met Duo, who Heero had failed to notice a moment ago, on his way up.

"Thank you, Duo." She said giving the other man a polite smile.

"Do you need help with anything else, Miss Relena? 'Cause if you don't I was thinking about, . . ." His words trailed off into a grin.

Relena laughed and waved a hand at him as she turned to walk back up the stairs. "I'm sure Heero and I will be fine, go and eat already." As she made it to the top and passed by Heero she turned to him and smiled. "I'm ready, lets go." She continued to smile as she started ahead of him down the hallway towards her bedroom.

Heero was just about to follow after Relena when he heard a chuckle come from the stairs. He turned and sent a glare towards Duo, who was now standing with his hands behind his neck, a huge grin plastered on his face.

When he caught Duo's eyes, he was less then pleased to see the grin on his face get wider. Never the less, he continued to stare down the braided man until he relented at last, . . . in a manner of speaking.

"Don't worry Heero ol' buddy," Duo reassured, lowering his hands to rest on his hips. "Your secret is safe with me. No one will ever know that you were sleeping with your job." His tone was dripping with barely contained glee, and to Heero's absolute horror, the braided man winked before turning and heading back down the stairs. "Enjoy your breakfast Heero, Relena brought some good stuff."

Relena chose that exact moment to call down the hallway, "Heero, are you coming?"

Sending one last scathing look towards Duo's retreating back, Heero turned to follow after Relena. As he did so, he could hear contented chuckling coming up from the bottom of the stairs.

It only took a few moments to catch up with Relena, and once he did, Heero found that she had already opened up her bedroom door and gone inside. He frowned as he entered the room, spotting her instantly as she busily moved a small table into the sunlight in front of the balcony doors.

Relena looked up at him as soon as she had adjusted the table to her liking, and smiled. "I thought it might be nice to eat up here this morning. The sun is so gorgeous." She patted the tabletop, indicating that he could put the tray down on top of it.

After lowering the heavy tray to the smooth tabletop, he straitened his back and crossed his arms across his chest.

"I brought a few different things." Relena said, not wasting anytime in lifting the silver lid off of the tray, revealing a stack of fluffy pancakes, golden eggs, buttered toast, crispy bacon, steaming sausage and more. "I wasn't sure what you liked to eat in the morning." She grinned, "I may have over-done it though for just the two of us."

"Hn."

To Heero, his standard response sounded angry, or at least harder then usual. Relena didn't seem to notice the added emotion though as she continued to set out two plates that had been stacked underneath the full ones on the tray.

"In case you haven't noticed," Relena said as she placed flatware on the table, "I'm not going to let you get away with just having coffee this morning."

Needless to say Heero had indeed noticed that right away, and had been trying to formulate a plan to get his much needed morning brew in the back of his mind. Unconsciously, he'd deduced that Relena may not mind him having any, but he was fairly certain that he would have to submit himself to eating what she deemed to be a proper breakfast first.

Once she'd finished setting the table, Relena looked up towards him. Heero could pinpoint the exact moment in her eyes when she realized the expression on his face wasn't his normal indifferent look. He watched as her bright smile slowly melted off her lips.

"What is it, Heero?" Relena's voice had lost its cheery tone. It was enough to make Heero regret what he was going to say; but it wasn't going to stop him.

He had gone over it a few times in his head already; and he was fully aware of how petty and how truly unimportant it was now; but there was a part of him that just wouldn't let it rest.

"Why didn't you wake me up this morning before you left? I should've gone with you."

A slim blond eyebrow on Relena's forehead rose as she regarded him for a moment before speaking. "Truthfully, you were sleeping so soundly that I didn't have the heart to wake you. I figured that I would be able to make it to the kitchen and come back before you woke up."

Narrowing his eyes at the answer he received; Heero replied, "That's not really the point. Your not supposed to be going anywhere on your own."

In an instant a smile had returned to Relena's perfect lips. "Heero, it's a bright and beautiful morning. The entire house is up, and there are staff and Preventer agents everywhere. I highly doubt that there's much change of getting whisked away by kidnappers between my bedroom and the kitchen." She walked over to the balcony doors and unlatched them, letting the sounds and smells of the morning come spilling into the room. "Besides," She said as she closed her eyes and tilted her face up towards the warm sunshine, "Duo did come with me, I wasn't alone."

"I still would've preferred that you had woken me up."

It seemed for a moment that Relena hadn't heard that last bit. In all honesty, Heero wasn't that disappointed. It wasn't that important now anyways.

Just as he was about to call her attention back to all the food she had brought, Relena opened her eyes and turned to face him. The corner of her lips turned up slightly.

"You didn't want anyone to know that you fell asleep last night? Why?"

He was more then a little shocked that she had figured out the reason why he was not happy with her leaving, besides the fact that he didn't want her to be on her own without protection, and tried to cover just how shocked he was by turning his back to her and heading back towards the chair he had begun sitting in last night. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Relena's laughter was like dainty bells ringing in his ears. "You can tell me, Heero. I promise I won't tell anyone." She had turned away from the sunshine now, and headed towards the chair that he was now seated in.

Heero crossed his arms across his chest, clearly showing the answer to her question.

She stopped in front of him and grasped one of his immobile arms, Relena's lips still turned up in a playful smile. "Well, if you wont tell me the real reason why you wanted me to wake you up this morning, then at least come and eat some breakfast with me."

Contemplating the proposal for a moment, he looked up into Relena's eyes. They were filled with such warmth, and laughter. This woman was teasing him, was _playing _withhim. It was an entirely new thing for him, and if he was completely honest with himself, he wasn't minding in the slightest.

A/N : Well here it is guys! Its been six months, but I hope those of you still reading like what I've been able to put together. I like to think that while Heero and Relena seem to be stuck in a temporary happy bubble, the world around them is still functioning, and moving towards finding out what's really going on.

Again, I do apologize for the long wait, but for this chapter I felt I needed to go back and re-acquaint myself with the story I've done so far. I started this so long ago, and some of the chapters I've put out I wrote over 2 years ago. Oo Its hard to believe I'm still writing this sometimes, and that I still have a drive to, but I suppose I just don't want to leave this unfinished, no matter how long its going to take me to get to the end. I just hope some of you want to stick around for the ride ;P

Thanks again for all your patience, I can't say this enough, you guys are great. All the reviews I receive I thoroughly enjoy, even the constructive criticisms I truly appreciate hearing from those of you reading, and always will.

Ta ta for now

Eden


	18. Part 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or any of its associated characters, much to my dismay and pain. Of course, while I cannot claim them, I do claim ownership of this particular story and any original characters I happen to throw in.**

**Eternal Promises**

**By Eden**

**Part 18**

It had been a long day, Trowa reasoned as he followed the satellite GPS directions towards his destination. Shortly after he had left the Peacecraft mansion, he'd boarded a plane for western Canada and tucked in for the twelve hour flight. It had been a relief when he'd finally stepped off the plane and was able to stretch his rather log legs, commercial aircrafts always seemed to be excruciatingly lacking in space. He'd been on the road since then, having rented a car from the airport.

He wasn't far away now from the target destination. He had to hand it to the Kidnappers or who ever had thought up the idea to transmit Miss Relena's call from this particular location. The cities and smaller communities all seemed to melt together making it difficult to tell the beginning of one and the end of the next. One single transmission was easily lost within all the others being made at any time day or night.

For at least the dozenth time since he set out to find the transmission computer, he went over all the possible out comes as to what he could be getting himself into. The one that would be the most helpful would be if the location was abandoned, or at least unoccupied at the time of his arrival. Of course, this was unlikely seeing as a lot of trouble had been made to make sure the original transmission could not be tracked unless this location was discovered. Realistically, he was walking into a confrontation of some kind.

He took the exit road into one of the many small communities and slowed his speed accordingly. The GPS guided him through a tangle of commercial and then residential roads until Trowa found himself parking the mid sized coupe down the road from an average family home on what seemed like an average suburban street.

Not surprising this wasn't the way he liked to do things. Jumping into a situation where you didn't know the layout or the security or the possible problems that could arise put anyone at a severe tactical disadvantage. Trowa took a few minutes to survey the street and the house. Everything looked quiet. A few people were out in their yards while the odd pedestrian and vehicle made its way down the street. It was just a typical street, it could've been anywhere.

The former HeavyArms pilot pulled his gun out of the bag sitting on the seat next to him. It had been easy to get it past the civilian airport security. There was nothing like the flash of a fake airport security badge and a steely glare to make the rent-a-cops back down without question. He checked the clip before snapping it back into place and putting the spare into a back pocket before screwing the silencer onto the front of the weapon. No need to alarm the neighbours of his presents.

Taking one last look up and down the block, he left the car and made his way towards the house.

*~=~*

Heero entered the kitchen and narrowed his eyes at the room until his gaze found what it was he'd been coveting. Stalking over to the far counter he retrieved an upturned mug and proceeded to fill it with what smelled like a strongly brewed dark coffee. He didn't allow the serious look to relax off of his face until he'd taken a good mouthful and swallowed it, leaning back against the cabinets, his eyes half closed enjoying the taste.

Relena was being examined by Sally while Noin and Zechs were close at hand. He had unceremoniously been given the boot for a few hours, told to relax by the elder Peacecraft sibling. Heero had a feeling that it was more then just a simple examination, that it might have something to do with what Sally had been eluding to the other day when they'd been debriefing the Politician. The way that she might be able to help Relena remember what it was the kidnapper had said to her before she had succumbed to the sleeping drug.

He frowned to himself, not liking that he'd been excluded from what could be an important discovery if whatever it was Sally had in mind worked. Actually, he didn't like the idea of being told to leave Relena at all, but if it was actually as innocent as just an examination of the young woman to check on her condition he was more likely to understand.

Before he was able to become lost in his own thoughts, he looked up to see Wufei enter the kitchen looking a little worse for wear.

Waiting until the man had poured himself a cup of the same coffee Heero himself was still enjoying he said "You look like hell, what have you been doing?"

The Chinese man grimaced at the strong taste of coffee presumably before speaking. "I've been up all night going through a list of all the temporary staff that's been employed here and at Relena's office buildings for the last six months looking for anyone that might have connections of any kind to terrorist groups. Its going to take a while to get through them all."

"I thought you were on duty last night when I brought Relena back to her room. "

"I was. Maxwell relieved me at midnight." Wufei snorted. " That fool brought me the list then all but crowing at his own genius idea. "

"Duo brought it to you? Hmm. Any luck so far?"

"Not so far, but its hard to tell with so many people." He rubbed at his eyes with the heal of his free hand before looking at Heero curiously. "Why aren't you with Miss Relena?"

"I've been told to take a break." He narrowed his eyes slightly for a moment. "She's being examined again by Sally. Noin and Zechs are with her."

"Sounds like Zechs thinks your spending too much time with her."

Heero ignored the statement. "Do you want any help with that list of yours?"

"You want to take a crack at it?" Wufei looked at him with interest.

Topping up his coffee Heero shrugged. "I've got a few hours to kill."

*~=~*

Relena stepped into her room a few hours later and found Heero still working on going through the backgrounds' of the previous staff members.

She stepped into the room quietly and moved to stand behind him, not wanting to disturb him. He noticed her though and turned his head for a moment to acknowledge her presents before returning to stair at the laptop in front of him.

"How did it go with Sally?"

"As well as can be expected I suppose."

Heero didn't fail to notice the tired tone to the young woman's voice as she moved towards the balcony doors and unlatched them. He watched as she closed her eyes and breathed in deeply a small amount of stress that seemed to be present in her features eased. "What happened?"

She didn't turn to look at him, choosing instead to talk to the late morning sunshine. "I'm sure your already have an idea of what it was Sally really wanted today when she suggested the examination."

"She wanted to see if she could get through to the things you'd forgotten with the administration of the sleeping drugs."

The young woman sighed and nodded. "I let her of course, any information I can give to you about the kidnappers would be one step closer to finding who it is, and would perhaps help us find out what it is they truly want. Sally thought that hypnosis would be the easiest way to proceed. Its simple enough, almost like going to sleep, and its supposed to get past the parts of your mind that block memories, past your inhibitions maybe."

Closing the lid of the laptop Heero watched her more carefully. "Were you able to remember anything?"

Relena turned back towards him, a curious look on her face. "I remembered what he looked like, the leader, or at least who I think was the leader. He looked like you, he had your eyes."

He was taken aback. "What? Are you sure?"

She just nodded.

Heero's mind was blank. How could this be? Who on earth -

And then the dreams came back to him. Those _fucking_ dreams he'd been having for the last month, how could he have forgotten? He shook his head, no. It was impossible anyways. That person had been dead for what? Ten years at least. He'd seen it again and again every time he closed his eyes, which was exactly why he hadn't been sleeping.

He hadn't noticed her coming to stand beside him until her hand landed on his shoulder, shocking him back into the present. Startled he looked up into her eyes, a flash of concern in them. "What is it? Do you know-"

"No." He cut her off quickly and was sorry he did so a moment later when saw the concern deepen her expression. "No," he said again, much gentler this time. "There was someone, but they died a long time ago. I don't know who this person would be."

"I'm sorry. They must've been close to you to share the same looks." A sad smile graced her features.

No matter what, Heero couldn't bring himself to tell her about the dreams, or about the person in them, about the person who'd died. They'd died because of him, but he didn't want to tell her that, he barely wanted to admit it to himself.

"Did you remember anything else?" He cleared his throat in what he hoped was an unconcerned way.

Relena's eyes moved to look at the ceiling as she thought a moment before sitting down in the chair next to his own. "There was one other man,"

"The large one who seemed to be following orders?"

She nodded. "Yes, him. His name was Reiko. I'm not sure how much help that is, but at least its something."

Heero thought for a moment. "You clearly remember what those two men looked like now?"

"Yes, absolutely."

"Then maybe you can help more then you thought."

She was clearly puzzled, but seemed eager none the less. "What can I do?"

He was already opening up the laptop again, sure they had a better chance of finding what they were after now that they had some clues of who they needed to be looking for.

*~=~*

Else where in the Peacecraft mansion, Quatra was on his way to relieve Zechs from his guarding duties, when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. Stopping to fish the phone out, he answered, "Quatra here." before continuing on his way down the hallway.

His eyes grew large and he stopped short again. "Trowa, is that you?"

The voice on the other end of the phone answered back _"I've secured the machine in question, and I've found the location of what I believe to be the original transmitting computer. It looks as though the transmission originated in Santorin Greece."_

"Your sure? I'll have to tell Heero and the others right away. I'm sure they'll want some time to look into this before we plan our next move. How did it go getting the information?"

"_The operation went smoothly, there wasn't much for security here. I don't think they expected us to actually figure out how they had hid their base location."_

Quatra smiled. "Well that's fortunate for us. Right now we have the element of surprise on our side, and that makes things a bit easier. Will you be heading back directly then?"

"_Yes, I'll be on the next flight out. No need to stick around here any longer then I have to."_

"Agreed. Safe flight then Trowa. We'll see you when you get back, we owe you a lot for this information."

Once the call was terminated, Quatra took a deep breath and continued down the hallway towards the Preventors base in the entrance hall of the mansion. He didn't think he was imagining the feeling that things were going to get interesting very quickly.

*~=~*

"I can't believe you guys didn't say anything about what you were up to." Duo grumbled from one end of the large table a short time later. "Its not like telling the rest of us would've jeopardized the mission."

"Your probably right, but we didn't want to get anyone's hopes up until we were sure about the information we would find." Quatra tried to pacify the braided man.

"Duo's right. You should've told us. They could've been expecting us to make a move like that and could've been a trap from the very beginning." Zechs sent a serious look across the table at both Quatra and Wufei. "At least with all of us involved we would be sure to avoid any mistakes."

"There's no use worrying about it now. We have the information we need to go after the kidnappers and maybe face them at a tactical advantage instead of stumbling around blindly waiting for the next attack." Noin tried to reason with the man seated beside her. "I'm sure Trowa knew the dangers going into the mission."

"There is no need for any of us to be throwing our lives away needlessly anymore. The world has changed, there is no more war, no more examples to be made. Everyone agrees that the fighting had to stop."

"And yet here we are." Wufei said, without looking up at Zechs.

He was about to retort when Relena placed a hand on his arm and caused him to turn to face her. "I don't think the issue here is weather or not the correct action was taken, but what has come from the action itself." She tried to pacify the people sitting at the table before a full blown fight broke out. "I for one appreciate any information that we gain in order to bring us closer to finding out what these men are truly after, and where we can find them to ensure that it will never happen again."

"So we know they're in Greece." Duo said, his arms crossed across his chest. "We still need to figure out who they are before we can make a move on them."

"We might have a lead on that as well." Heero spoke for the first time.

Wufei looked interested. "That was fast."

Duo scoffed at the Chinese man's comment. "Told you he'd get results."

"I had help."

Relena smiled as he pulled out the laptop and opened the cover.

It took just a moment to boot up the machine and pull up the information on the screen before he turned it around and allowed everyone to take a good look at the picture of the man on the screen. "His name is Reiko Talmus, thirty eight years old. He's been involved in anti government and terrorist actions on and off for the last twenty years. He's an experienced soldier, and for the most part acts as a mercenary for hire."

"He was the man who seemed to act as the leaders right hand man." Relena added quietly.

"This is one of the men you remembered today, Relena?" Noin turned to her.

The blond woman nodded and Heero spoke. "When she told me what it was you were doing today during her examination, I thought she might want to take a look at the database we've been going through to see if she recognized anyone, and he was the first one she found."

"But there are still lots of pictures to go through," Relena added quickly. "I hope I can recognize the other two men I saw while I was there."

"What was that man Reiko hired to do?" Quatra asked coming to stand behind Heero's chair while he turned the laptop back around in order to look for the information.

"Says here he was working on electrical shorts in some of the offices around the mansion. There is a work order on file for the rooms he was permitted access to."

"We should look into them, find out if there was any surveillance equipment installed that allowed them to gain access to Miss Relena's rooms or office." Quatra looked up, concerned.

Wufei stood up "On it." as he walked from the room.

"I'll need to inform Commander Une of what we've found out. No doubt she'll want to make sure we continue to patrol the perimeter as well as the interior of the building carefully until we can be sure its completely safe." Sally also left the room.

Zechs turned to Heero and Relena, "It might be a good idea if you didn't go back to Relena's room or office until it can be verified that both rooms are secure and uncompromised."

Relena looked startled for a moment before nodding. "Yes, your right of course." she stared down at her hands for a few moments. "Where do you suppose I would be able to spend the time until my bedroom at the very least has been cleared?"

Heero had continued on to read the work order for the rooms Reiko had been 'fixing'. "It says here that rooms and offices next to your own were worked on as well as an outbuilding. That could've been where they sent the feed before it could be transmitted off the grounds to where ever they were reviewing it."

Duo sighed and stood up. "I'll go and let Wufei know. I'm sure he'll want to make sure we check the whole place, but it will help to know where we should be focusing."

As the braided man left the room Noin moved to stand beside Relena's chair and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Relena, just leave this to us, we'll have it cleared up in no time." She smiled at the young woman.

Relena smiled back. "Thank you Noin. I appreciate all you've been able to do so far, everything that everyone's done."

As both she and Zechs left to help with the room by room search Heero turned the laptop screen so that Relena could clearly see the other pictures he'd pulled up. "Do your recognize any of these men?"

There were six of them of varying ages and authenticities, and she made sure to look at each face carefully, but looked up at him with a frown on her face and shook her head. "No, who are these men?"

He turned the laptop back towards himself and closed the screen. "Other members of the same team that

Reiko came with to do the supposed electrical work. The next thing I'll look into will be who it was that brought them in to work in the first place, and if there truly was a problem in the mansion or not."

"Oh god, it really could be someone on my staff." she shook her head hardly able to contemplate how it could've happened. "I know that they are screened fairly well, but I suppose you can never truly know what someone's aims are."

"I don't think it matters how well the screening process works, it all comes down to how we as humans view the information we find. Even someone who had ties to terrorist groups in the past could be trying to make up for the errors of their ways. I honestly don't think there was anything that could've been done to completely guard against something like this happening. We're just humans and we all make mistakes once in awhile." Quatra tried to lessen the blow to the young woman's feelings towards the systems that were in place to keep her and her staff safe.

After Quatra also left to help with the search, promising to look for them both later on, just Heero and Relena remained in the dining room. They sat for what seemed like a long while without talking until Relena broke the silence. "I think I'd like to help you look through that list some more." her expression was determined.

"Alright. Come on then." Heero picked up the laptop and stood up from the chair he was seated in next to her and began to walk from the room. They proceeded to walk up the staircase and move through the hallways until they came to a familiar door. "I double checked the work order, but none of the 'repairs' were done on this side of the building, since it seems to be the furthest away from the part of the mansion you use. This room should be secure, but wait out here until I check."

She gave him a grateful smile before he opened the door and slipped into the room. His bag was still on the floor where it had been placed the last time he'd been in the room. The only real change he could see was that the bed had been made and fresh towels had been put into the adjoining bathroom. He still scoured the room carefully, checking the balcony door latches, the telephone, as well as every single piece of furniture present.

When he was sure the room was clean, he motioned for Relena to enter and sat down on the bed, opening up the laptop.

She closed the door after herself and came to sit down next to him as he started up the computer once more.

Once Heero had the program up and running he turned to her. "Don't try and force anything. Its possible that you may not recognize anyone else in these pictures, and even if you do recognize them, it could be from when then were actually working here."

"Your right. I have to be careful, but I just know that if I keep looking through these pictures I'll find something else that will help everyone."

"You know you've done a lot already. That last person you recognized may lead us directly to the leader your hoping to remember."

"I really hope your right."

*~=~*

It was cold. She could feel the metal under her cheek as she laid on the floor. Slowly she tried to push herself into a sitting position only to find that there was a weight on her back preventing her from moving.

She felt rough hands grab her arms. Her captors acrid breath made her cough in the darkness as she tried to turn her face away.

_You can't get rid of me you know._

The words made her struggle harder against the steel vices on her arms, despite the warning.

_Your all I can think about, your in my mind, you consume me._

"No," She tried to kick her legs out, finally remembering they were there when she felt something brush across her forehead and realized with revulsion that it was her captors lips. "Get away from me, your disgusting."

_What's disgusting? I've only done what I have to do to survive, and doesn't the fact that I love you make up for all of that? Can't you forgive me and see past it all?_

Shaking her head almost violently she continued to try and dislodge the figure above her in any way possible. "Nothing can make up for what you've done. You have a rotten mind and a hateful soul."

Hurtful laughter filled her mind. _Stop struggling, you know you can't get away from me and no one will be coming for you._

"Your wrong, Heero will come for me. He will always come for me."

_But he's no different then me, how can you stand to be around him when you can't stand me?_

"He isn't the same as you."

_Oh but he is. _The voice rumbled not in her ear, but throughout her body as it spoke. _He's been forced to do things he's not proud of, things that disgust even himself, but things that were necessary at the time. You know that and still you cling to the belief that he is somehow different then I am, how can you know for sure?_

"I know him, I know he would never do anything to hurt someone and enjoy it."

_Are you sure about that?_

"I trust him."

_Are you sure that's a good idea? He might not be worth trusting. He's the same as me you know._

_It was then that she turned her eyes and saw her captors face, the mouth twisted up in a mocking grin. As she stared in shock the grin grew crueler and the truth more undeniable. "Ekin."_


	19. Part 19

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or any of its associated characters, much to my dismay and pain. Of course I do claim ownership of this particular story and any original characters I happen to throw in.

**Eternal Promises**

**By Eden**

**Part 19**

**Caution : contains sceans of attempted rape**

"Relena?"

Her eyes opened with a start at the sound of her name. Heero's room, not a cold metal prison. She raised a hand to her forehead and tried to slow her breathing. It was only a dream.

A gentle hand came down on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

She looked up to see the concern crossing Heero's features. Forcing herself to shake off the remaining feelings from the dream and smile Relena nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Bad dream, that's all."

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, "I'm beginning to think that hypnosis isn't the best idea for you. It drags up too many unpleasant images and stops you from really sleeping."

"No, its fine. Really." She felt silly. It had simply been a bad dream, not worth any fuss. "Actually, I think I may have remembered something else." Relena lowered her head and rubbed at her eyes.

Heero continued speaking as though he hadn't heard her. "I know how much you want to help find the people that did this, but putting yourself through all of this isn't worth it, Relena." She felt the hand on her shoulder move up to cup her cheek.

She stopped rubbing at her eyes , startled by Heero's words and movement. "I'm sorry?"

"You've already done so much to help, your aware of that aren't you?" He caught her gaze with his serious expression. "If you can remember more on your own that would help immensely, but don't do this anymore. Don't let Sally hypnotize you or whatever it is to try and pump you for information."

Relena's eyes were locked on his when she answered. "Alright."

Surprise flashed across his features and he dropped the hand from her cheek. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?" She was beginning to lean towards him without realizing it. She must be more tired then she first realized.

"I always expect you to put up more of a fight, and so far you've just agreed to my suggestions without so much as a question. You did the same thing when I said that it might not be a good idea for you to continue to work. Why is it that your so agreeable?"

Relena smiled and stretched her arms out in front of her, enjoying the feeling of her muscles un bunching. "I would have to say that it's because so far you haven't suggest I stop anything I have a problem with. I was planning on taking time away from work to begin with, even before any of this kidnapping business, and now I have no reason to continue the hypnosis with Sally because I've remembered all I need to about the kidnappers."

Heero's eyes regarded her questioningly "You have?"

Nodding Relena ran her fingers absently through her hair to straiten it after her nap. "I was trying to tell you. I believe that I've remembered the kidnappers name. It was Ekin, Ekin Lowe."

OoOo

It was like falling into a swirling tunnel. He felt the pull, the rush of emotion, the confusion, and disbelief of his ears and what he just heard. It couldn't be right. How could someone he knew to be dead be coming after the only person he felt anything for? Unless of course he wasn't dead, but how? Thoughts spun through Heero's mind uncontrollably. He knew that he hadn't moved and that Relena was waiting for him to say something, he could feel her eyes on him, trying to gauge his reaction. What was his reaction? He hardly knew himself, he could only feel conflicted emotions.

"Your sure you remember right? Ekin Lowe?" He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes.

He saw her nod carefully out of the corner of his eye, and closed his eyes in a slow blink as he let out a silent breath and steeled himself. "Can you describe what he looked like?"

With every detail Heero grew more sure that Relena wasn't mistaken, and that he was in a situation he never in his worst nightmares could have imagined possible. The dead simply didn't come back to life, but in this case they had and now he needed to figure out a way to deal with it.

Relena was looking at him expectantly, Confusion and worry settling on her delicate features. "What is it Heero? Do you actually know this person?"

He didn't know how to answer her, he hardly knew how to explain it to himself. He'd never been one to share his problems with others, or talk about his past. Those were things he simply didn't find enjoyable, and so avoided doing so. But this was simply something he'd never expected to come across, never expected to have to deal with when it was nearly ancient history.

Gritting his teeth with barely suppressed frustration Heero shook his head at the young woman. She didn't deserve to have this put upon her after all she'd already been through. God damn it, it was all his fault, and not just because he hadn't been with her to stop it from happening. The whole kidnapping had been a ploy all along to get him out of hiding.

He didn't deserver her sympathy, her empathy, her understanding. The best thing in the world for her would've been if he'd never fallen into her life.

"I'm not sure what exactly it means yet. I need to talk to Zechs." The answer sounded thin even to his own ears, and he cringed inwardly while he kept the impassive expression that was so at home on his outward features.

He was saved from having to say anymore on the subject when there was a knock at the door.

Getting up from the bed, Heero walked over to the door and leaned against the frame. "Who is it?"

"Its Wufei."

Heero pulled his gun off of the nearby table before unlocking the door, and slowly opening it a crack so he could look out and verify that it was safe to open it all the way.

Once Wufei had been admitted to the room and Heero had returned his gun to the table, Heero cut to the chase. "Have you finished searching the rooms from the work order?"

The Chinese man nodded. "We found cameras in Relena's bedroom as well as her office."

Heero heard a small intake of breath and looked towards Relena to see she had covered her mouth with a hand. Her face had lost all of its color, her eyes were wide and unbelieving. "A camera in my bedroom?" She asked just to be clear of what she heard.

Wufei nodded. "We've removed them now. We also -" Heero shot the other man a look and he stopped his train of thought and restarted. "We've removed all the monitoring devices, its quite safe now."

As both med watched, Relena stood up from where she was sitting on the bed and mumbled an "Excuse me." before walking towards the bathroom and locking herself inside.

In a low voice Heero asked "What else did you find?"

"There were listening devices in all of the rooms on the work order, but as I mentioned, cameras only in her bedroom and office. From what we can tell they've been functional up until now." Wufei looked grim.

"So anything thats been said or done in those rooms is potentially information that the kidnappers can use against us." Heero contemplated aloud crossing his arms across his chest.

"It looks that way."

Heero shook his head. "What else do we know?"

OoOo

Relena didn't know how long she spent in the bathroom before she heard a soft knock at the door. She swiped at her eyes with a tissue before answering. "I'll be out in a minute."

Taking a look at herself in the mirror, she frowned. Her face was tear streaked and red, and it only matched the way she felt inside. She felt violated in the worst possible way. Someone had been spying on her, had watched her in her bedroom when she had felt safe and alone.

Had she ever truly been safe? She had felt safe when she was younger, before all the fighting on the earth had started, when she was still a naive girl who's biggest concerns had to do with parties and what dress she should wear. But had that really been the best way to live? She hadn't known so many things, she had truly lead a shallow existence. It had only been once she met Heero that she had felt like there was something worth living for, even if it had ment loosing her life.

Yes. This was a better life, no matter what it threw at her.

She sniffed again and tried to smile at herself in the mirror. "You look horrible." She whispered, before turning on the cold water.

By the time she had straitened herself out and unlocked the bathroom door, Wufei had left. Heero sat on the corner of the bed, but he stood up when she stepped into the room.

"Are you alright?" He didn't try to mask his concern for her well being, and it touched Relena to see it.

"I am, thank you. It was just . . . a shock." She gave him a small smile.

Heero moved until he was in front of her and then gently layed a hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry this is happening to you."

"I'm sorry someone would go to these lengths to get to you." Relena closed her eyes and leaned into his palm.. "Its clear now thats the case, isn't it? You recognized Ekin's name."

She felt rather then heard him sigh. "I did. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. This is just something that happened. There will always be things like this. I'm a public figure, and your an icon. There will always be some rebel faction, some twisted individual who thinks they can make some vast point by getting to either us or another of the Gundam pilots or my brother." Relena echoed his earlier sigh. "It would be nice to not have to worry about these things though."

"You would have to be a regular person." Heero's thumb lazily stroked her cheek as Relena stepped into him.

"That might be okay." She answered leaning her forehead against his chest. "I wonder what regular people do to fill up the time that the don't need to worry about terrorists and being kidnapped?"

What might've been a chuckle vibrated Heero's chest. "I would imagine that it would be something like school, work, marriage, and then children."

"So simple. But it sounds nice. I couldn't imagine living my own life like that."

He wrapped an arm around Relena's waist and rested his chin on the top of her head. "You've never thought about it, how your life might be if you'd never met me, or if you had simply left me alone?"

"I think about it every day." She confessed. "And if I hadn't met you, or done everything I could to follow you around the world, I would still be that spoiled pampered girl, surrounded by her spoiled pampered friends with no concept of what was truly going on in the world. You opened my eyes, and I thank the stars every day that you did."

They stood in silence for a long moment before Relena broke it. "I don't think I'd want to imagine a life that I hadn't met you in."

"I've brought you so much trouble."

"Not half as much as I've brought myself." She scoffed. "I had such a temper then. I was trying to prove that I wasn't weak or a child who needed to be coddled. I very nearly got myself killed a few times."

"You and me both." Relena could detect a trace of a smile in his words.

Again the silence engulfed them. They continued to stand holding on to each other in a comfortable sort of way that neither of them completely understood.

"Having you here, during all of this, seems to make everything easier to deal with. I think I've always felt that way." She mussed, her voice muffled against his shoulder as she burried her face into him.

Heero's arms tightened around her slightly. "Even when I was trying to kill you?"

Relena laughed. "As demented as it sounds, yes. Even when you were trying to kill me I knew that it wasn't without a good reason, and that sureness always comforted me."

"I was never sure when it came to you" His voice deepened, softened.. "Something about the way you carried yourself, and your decisions always made me question my own judgment. Even when you went out of your way to tell me things were alright."

"You gave me a cause to fight for." She raised her honey head to meet his eyes, "It was the least I could do." Relena smiled at him, and was pleased that he returned hers with a small one of his own.

"I'll keep you safe Relena." He stated simply.

"I know you will. Thank you." She ment it sincerely, and hoped he could tell.

Heero lead her towards the bed and sat down next to her. "I do need to go and speak with Zechs."

Relena nodded. "To discuss strategy, and other things your not telling me." She hated saying the words, but they were true and she was tired of being kept in the dark about things that obviously had to do with her, or at least with the kidnapping situation.

"Yet." Heero's expression was unreadable.

"Excuse me?" Relena was startled by the statement.

"Things I'm not telling you yet. I will tell you everything, but give me a chance to work out what some of these things mean before I explain them to you." When Relena caught his eyes she saw pleading, just a hint, but it was there. She couldn't say no to him in that instant.

"Alright. I understand." She wasn't used to giving in to requests such as this and her agreement was somewhat grudgingly. She had grown much more accustomed to getting answers and the with holding of information wasn't something she was enjoying in the slightest. But if the promise of an explanation was on the horizon, then she would accept the delay, for now.

"I'll get Duo to stay with you here while I talk with Zechs if thats alright."

Relena nodded her assent. "That would be fine." And then she stopped. She'd had a thought and it surprised her, because of the nature of it, but before she could second guess herself she simply said what was on her mind. "Are you sure you need to talk to my brother now? Couldn't it wait?"

The look Heero gave her then was full of confusion.

"What I mean to say is," She leaned forward towards him and whispered in his ear. "Its not _urgent _is it?" Before she could think about it for another minute she brushed her lips lightly across his cheek.

As quickly as she could imagine Heero caught her face in the palm of his hand and turned to face her. His eyes were stormy pools. "It is important," He brought his lips to hers just as gentle as she had been. "But it can wait a little while."

He kissed her again, this time slowly, laggardly. Allowing her time to move closer to him. Relena felt no need to rush only to feel, to enjoy the moment. The sweet way his free hand trailed through her loose hair, his other arm wrapped behind her back, holding her close.

She couldn't help thinking about what he had said the night before, that he would stay if she wanted him to. She had told him that she hadn't wanted him to leave, and she had ment it. If he did indeed do as he'd said, he could be hers. She would never again need to wonder when she would see him again, or hope for glimpses of him or word from a rumour about how he was doing. The thought made Relena raise her hand between them to rest on his chest, to grip at the front of his shirt, leaning into him, deepening the kiss.

Heero responded in kind and she felt the hand that had been running through her hair reach up and take hold of the back of her head.

The contact sent a warm intoxicating feeling through her body. She felt herself making moves that she knew were purely instinctual. The waves of pleasure she felt going through her body were intoxicating and made it impossible to form coherent thought. Relena hardly realized when Heero leaned her back against the bed, and propped himself over her, his hands wandering down her side to massage her hip through the fitted pants she wore.

His tongue slowly forced its way into her mouth and twined with her own, tasting her. Relena could taste him as well, the familiar taste of the coffee he loved, and the taste that could only be described as Heero himself. She arched herself towards him, brought an arm to wrap around his back so she could push herself closer to him. She wanted this, she wanted Heero.

Then just as she felt him slipping his hands under the hem of her silky short sleeved shirt a loud gurgling sound broke the mood.

Heero raised his head to look at her as Relena groaned, throughly embarrassed.

"We did miss dinner didn't we?" He asked, his lips turning up ever so slightly at the corners as he gazed down at her.

"I suppose we did." Relena couldn't help but answer, her voice weak. She couldn`t believe it. To be in a perfect situation and to have it ruined souly by her stomach of all things. "I'm a little hungary."

Getting up off the bed, Heero stood, his dark hair seeming more tousled then usual, and offered her a hand. Relena accepted it, and he helped her to her feet. "Then I think we should get you something to eat."

Keeping hold of her hand, he began to lead her towards the door.

She was sullen as she followed after him, but tried to keep it from her features. By no means did she want to let him know how disappointed she was, and embarrassed.

Suddenly sensing her unhappiness, Heero turned around, his blue eyes intensely regarding her. Without saying a word, he leaned down and captured her lips once more. His kiss was hard, and bruising, and made Relena's legs nearly give out.

When he raised his head and she opened her eyes, struggling to compose herself, she saw the flash of a satisfied smirk curl up the corner of his lips, before Heero turned and proceeded to push open the bedroom door and lead her from the room.

OoOo

"Sir, they've found the cameras."

"Oh? They've figured it out already have they?" Ekin looked up from the pile of papers he was going through at the announcement. He felt a smile form at the corner of his lips.

"There are reports from what we were able to gather before the microphones and cameras were removed saying that they have also discovered where we are located. This base has been compromised."

The blond man laughed. It was a deep throaty sound that made the other man look at him, confusion in his expression. Ekin ignored him in favour of the other man coming up behind him to his right.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Reiko asked, crossing his arms over his large chest when he had come around to stand beside him and look down.

Ekin chuckled again, softer this time. "Oh yes, I've been waiting for this. A chance to show them just how little I care for their 'security measures'."

OoOo

After leaving Relena in the care of Duo in the kitchen, with the promise that the braided pilot would escort her back to his room and then stay with her untill he returned, Heero reluctantly proceeded to the room Zechs and Noin were sharing.

He found it easily, and saw when he arrived that the door was ajar, soft light spilling out the crack into the hallway.

Heero pulled open the door far enough to allow him to side step inside the room before closing it behind himself. Only the older Peacecraft sibling was in the room, his attention solely on the small screen infront of him.

"I'm ready to talk." Heero hated the way his voice sounded almost as much as he hated the words that passed his lips.

Zechs looked up from the laptop where he himself had been going through the files of temporary staff employed at the Peacecraft mansion and checking backgrounds. Heero could tell that the platinum blond man was trying to keep the surprise from his face as he responded. "Why now?"

There was no easy way to describe how utterly irritated at the situation Heero was, No way to simply express his overwhelming feeling of loosing control, of being caught unaware by the recent developments regarding the identity of the kidnapper. He kept wishing there was something else he could have done to prevent any of this from ever occurring, or before it had gone so far as to involve other people.

"I have something to tell you that you should know about. It has to do with the way I've been overworking on the Mars base and it has to do with my past.`` He took in a slow breath. ``It seems some things that I thought were long since finished with have come back to haunt me." Heero's voice was measured and even. His outward appearance showing an equivocal sence of calm as he leaned against the frame of the closed door, his arms crossed across his chest, his head bent, and eyes hooded.

Without seeing him, Heero knew that Zech's face was thoughtful. It was an expression he seemed to wear more since the wars had ended. "Is it about the nightmares? Why you can't sleep?"

Heero nodded once. "It's not what you think though. I don't have nightmares about the war, or the fighting. I probably should, I've done so many things that others wouldn't understand, things that even now I sometimes have a hard time acceptin.`` He shook his head. ``But it was a different time, and it was all I could do to find a place so that I could survive. I had to be strong and show others that I was strong." He stopped and took a breath to steady himself. This wasn't what he had come here to talk about.

"My nightmares are from when I was still a boy." Heero kept his head down, and his gaze briefly flitted over to Zechs to gauge his reaction. The older man remained seated at the small wooden table that he had been at when Heero had come into the room, his legs crossed, one ankle over his knee, leaned back casually in the hard strait backed wooden chair, Listening. He didn't try to say anything, simply leaving it up to Heero to volunteer what he would.

"I don't know what happened to my parents, only that I didn't didn't live with them long. They may have been killed in the conflicts that surrounded the colonies at that time. I was raised by a man named Odin Lowe." Heero paused for a moment, remembering. "He was an assassin working for the highest bidder. At a young age he taught me how to fight, how to care for and use a gun." Again he paused. "Odin taught both my brother and I."

Heero knew the moment Zechs looked up, startled. He could literally feel the man`s eyes on him He wasn't sure how to proceed. He hadn't known since the moment he'd started speaking how he was supposed to tell Relena's brother that he was the reason why his sister had been kidnapped, why her life had quite possibly been in danger.

"Please, don't stop." Zechs managed to get out sounding relativlly calm. Heero could hear the strain in his words though, and knew that he had no choice but to simply plow ahead and tell him everything.

"It happened so long ago, I was only about eight, and I suffered a head injury at the same time. I forgot about it for a long time, and only remembered as I realized what I've been having nightmares about for the last few months. I keep seeing the fire that killed my older brother, and how I couldn't save him." Heero stopped talking long enough to look up and meet Zech's gaze directly. "The reason why I'm telling you this is because I have good reason to believe that my brother may not be dead as I thought he was, and that he's trying to draw me out for some reason."

"What gives you the idea that he may be alive?" Confusion passed over Zech's expression.

Heero narrowed his eyes before answering. "Relena told me about the hypnosis that Sally did this afternoon and about the man she remembered seeing, the one who was in charge." He wasn't about to accuse Zechs of withholding information from him, but he wanted to make it clear that he wasn't pleased. "She remembered something else on her own afterwards, the man's name. Ekin Lowe."

"Its your brother's name." Zechs nodded, understanding without needing an explanation.

"Yes. He's been after me, wants to draw me out, and I don't know why. I'm concerned that he may try and come after Relena again if I can't figure out what he wants." Heero looked past Zechs towards the darkened balcony doors. The night had crept in without his noticing.

Zechs raised an eyebrow, his words cutting into the younger mans thoughts. "Why would you be concerned about that? She's incredibly well protected here, we would easily be able to stop any assault on her."

Sighing inwardly and forcing himself to change his focus back to Zechs; Heero responded. "I haven't seen Ekin since I was eight years old. I can't begin to predict the sorts of things that go through his mind, or his motivation behind his actions. What I do know is that while he held Relena, she told me that he seemed to show . . . Interest in her." He spoke the last part as though it was a bad taste on his tongue.

"Ah. Well if he's using Relena to draw you out, whats stopping him from using her to get to you in other ways. Of course thats providing he knows how you feel for her." The older man contemplated.

"The cameras in her room." Heero could barely keep his voice level as he revealed this information. "Wufei informed me earlier that they did indeed find cameras and a few other pieces of monitoring equipment in the rooms that had been scheduled for electrical maintenance. The concerns about the outbuilding were also correct. They sent all the feeds to the building wirelessly and had a satelight feed uploading them online."

Interest sparked in Zech's eyes. "Have you found out if the destination is the same for the video upload as for the transmission for Relena's broadcast?"

"Wufei and Sally are looking into it now," Heero shrugged. "It will take some time to pinpoint it conclusively. The images were uploaded to a third party site and simply accessed as a streaming video file. They need to to search through the access points to see if any match."

An unreadable expression passed over Zechs' face before he said, "So if Ekin now has proof that you care for Relena, I suppose that means-" His voice trailed off.

Heero met his eyes once more. "We were . . . Affectionate." He wouldn't say more than that. His eyes hardened. Let the older Peacecraft think what he would.

"Ahh." The older man didn't look inclined to push for any more information. "You'll look after her." It wasn't a question.

Heero didn't hesitate before answering. "I will."

"Where is she now?"

"With Duo. They were supposed to go back to the room I've been using after Relena finished eating. She said she didn't feel comfortable returning to her own room yet so soon after finding out about the cameras." As he spoke Heero realized that the small phone Wufei had given him was vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a message sent from Duo. His forehead creased in displeasure.

"What is it?" Zechs looked at Heero, his blue eyes cold as steel.

He read the message again just to be sure before speaking. "It would seem that Relena has had a change of heart and decided to return to her own room after all. Duo is still with her of course, he said that he checked the room over again thoroughly." Heero looked up from the screen. "I should go."

"What have you decided what to do about your brother?"

Realizing that this was the reason why he had come to see the older man, Heero sank back against the door before answering. "As I see it I have two options. One is a pre-emptive strike against the base in Greece we've found thanks to Trowa's recon mission. We would need to split into two groups, one to go in after Ekin and the other to stay and guard Relena in case the base is abandoned and its merely being used as a distraction to leave her vulnerable." He paused for a moment before continuing. "The second option would be to stay put and wait for the contact that we've been promised would come in the next few days to the person of interest."

By the look that passed over Zech's face Heero could tell that like himself neither one of these plans sat very well. Of course one thing that Heero refused to mention was that he had another option he had started to consider. It involved taking Relena away on his own and going into hiding so that he could investigate Ekin at his leisure without the added threat against Relena's life. He was sure that he would be able to successfully hide the young women for the time needed to eliminate the threat of Ekin who could possibly be his long thought to be dead brother.

"I don't like the idea of waiting to be contacted." Zechs said after a long few minutes of contemplation. "And I like less the idea of splitting our power to pursue what could possibly be a false lead, but at least it would be doing something."

Heero nodded. "Waiting could be playing right into their hands, they may not expect us to have figured out the location of the Greece base. It would give us an advantage if we're able to catch them unaware, that is if they haven't already abandoned that location." He was thoughtful.

Zechs lowered his eyes as he too mulled over their options before raising his head to meet Heero's gaze. "Go to Relena for now. In the morning we should discuss this with everyone."

Restraining a sigh, Heero nodded. He was far from looking forward to a group discussion but with everyone`s input they would more than likely come up with a feasable plan of action or defence. He was anxious to get back to Relena though. He couldn't fathom why she had changed her mind about spending the night in her own room when she had been simply against the idea when he had left her maybe half an hour ago. "Till tomorrow then." He stood up from against the wall and exited the room the same way he'd entered it.

OoOo

She was resting comfortably, floating in a velvety darkness, hardly aware of her own physical body. Her mind flitted from one thought to the next without a second look. She was defiantly dreaming, but of nothing in particular until she felt the lips against her forehead. They wern`t her imagination.

Smiling slightly, she chose to keep her eyes closed and simply enjoy the sensations.

The lips slowly moved down to kiss her temple and then lower to her jaw and across to her chin. They captured her own lips for a brief sweet moment before continuing downwards to the side of her neck. Pausing to lick and suck at a particularly shivery part of her skin, At that point she almost opened her eyes simply in pleasure to glimpse at her seducer, but was saved from the effort when the cool lips moved still lower to the nape of her neck that joined with her collarbone.

She vaguely realized that her hand moved up the arm braced against the bed beside her, up over the jacketed shoulder and still higher to tangle her fingers in the thick unruly hair. He smelled like the cool crisp outdoors.

"Heero," She sighed willing the lips to capture hers once more.

There was a pause when the body above hers froze and then slowly leaned back down towards her, the mouth moving to whisper in her ear. "No."

Relena froze, her eyes snapping open in the darkened room. Not Heero.

She was very still for a long moment as her mind rushed to decided what she should do. Was she in danger? Should she scream? Would anyone even hear her?

Her hand slowly stretched out across the bed and gripped the lamp cord, fumbling for the switch. Light suddenly blossomed and she was able to see for the first time since the seduction began. She gasped silently to herself. The thick hair that her other hand was still tangled in wasn't the dark mass she had invisioned, it was blond.

All at once she felt herself revulsed, and tried to push away. "Ekin." Relena cringed at the name that crossed her lips. Her hand coming up to brush against her mouth, as though to wipe away the feeling of his lips upon hers. "How did you get in here?"

No matter how she tried, Ekin would not let her push him away. He stayed locked above her, his hands and weight restricting her movements greatly.

"The same as last time," A mocking smile flashed across his features. "Although it was much more difficult this time. You got rid of my camera. That is precisely the reason I came you know. I needed to make sure for myself you were alright." His hand moved to try and brush back a strand of hair from her face, but she jerked away from the contact. "Ah yes. Your precious Heero, who seems to have left you all alone."

"He'll be back." She tried to make her voice hard and sure.

"Of course he will be." Ekin sounded indulgent.

"I want you to leave." Relena was finding it difficult to keep her voice steady. She was frightened. There was no way of telling what Ekin wanted with her. He might just be there to kill her in order to get at Heero again.

"I really don't want to do that. You see as I said, it was much more difficult to get here this time, what with all the toy soldiers patrolling around like they know what they're up against. " He brushed a finger down the side of her arm and caused her to shudder. "I really don't feel like leaving right away after all the time and effort it took to get in. Maybe you could entertain me for a while first." A cruel smile crossed Ekin's lips as he stared down at her.

"What do you want with me? I don't even know you." A tone between asperation and hysteria came through even as Relena clutched at calm despretly.

"Of course you don't. We were never introduced before I kidnapped you.`` Ekin`s words fell in the range of sarcasm. ``In fact as you might recall, you weren't even the one I was interested in to begin with. You were merely a means to draw out the one person I was truly after." His hand moved up her arm to idly run across her collarbone. "But you knew that."

"Heero-" Relena tried to say, but her voice faltered.

Ekin ignored her, and continued as though she hadn't been trying to speak. "It was hard, you know. Trying to find something, anything that would peak his interest enough to crawl out of whatever hole he had dug himself into after all the fighting had stopped. At first I thought that I could pick off one of his pilot friends, but of course as you can imagine it proved to be a fairly difficult task to accomplish, and that plan was given up even before it had left the ground." He was still above her on the bed, his weight on his knees and elbows, leaned over her face, contemplating something carefully.

"Why is it that he shows such reguard for you, do you think?" Ekin was truly mulling over this fact as though it was the most important thing in the world to him at this moment. "I know your beauty has something to do with it, but that can't be all." Gentle as a whisper his hand brushed through the loose strands of hair sweeping across the pillow she was laying on. "If your reaction to me earlier when you thought I was him is any indication then I suppose that he has some deeper feelings for you. Could it be that your feelings are as of yet unrequited?"

Ekin seemed to enjoy this possibility very much, and laughed out loud. It was a deep baritone sound, hearty even, but underlaid with a cruelty that made Relena's skin crawl.

She was determined not to say anything to this man. She couldn't bring herself to spur him on, or give him any more information about Heero or herself that he hadn't figured out on his own. She would not be goaded. But she still needed to buy time, he still hadn't come back yet. Her mind worked franticly. Duo must be on guard outside the bedroom door, he had ben with her earlier but he must have left while she was asleep. How could she alert him to what was going on without tipping Ekin off to what she was up to? Oh God, how long was Heero going to be with her brother before he came to find her?

Ekin finally seemed to be paying some attention to her. His eyes looked at her, concern flashing through them. "Oh there now, shh." He gave her a small smile. "No need to be frightened, I"m not going to hurt you."

Relena couldn't help the small gasp of relief that came from her at the words, no matter that she probably couldn't trust them. "Then why are you here? What do you want with me?"

The smile he gave her stretched across his face. "Oh I don't want anything with you for the moment. I'm making a point, don't you see?" Ekin looked at her as though willing her to understand where he was coming from. "They've put what they feel is the best security all around you, and they've gotten rid of my survalence equipment. It was almost as good as an invitation!"

Realization began to dawn on her. "It was a challenge? You wanted to prove that you could still get to me?"

"Precisely!" Ekin's face was brilliant with happiness.

Relena wasn't sure what to think about this sudden revelation. "So now that you've gotten in here, what are you going to do?" She was afraid of the answer, but she needed to know.

"Well, there's no reason why we can't continue from where we left off earlier." The blond hair fell into his familiar eyes in an even more families way.

She couldn't help the shudder that passed through her at the thought, nor the involuntary jerk when Ekin tried to run his finger over her cheek. "No, stop!"

"Whats the matter? You could pretend I'm Heero if it would make you feel better." Ekin's hand had started moving down the side of her body, his thumb stroking the side of her breast through her clothing.

"No!" She was beginning to panic now, he was holding her down too firmly to get away. "Get off of me!" She struggled against him, hoping to make him loose his grip.

He adjusted himself over her to pin her down against the bed with his own body weight. "You can't fight me, I have you."

"No!" She cried, louder this time. "No, no, no! Please stop!"

Ekin shut off her pleading by pressing his mouth firmly over hers.

Relena couldn't help the hopeless tears that began to stream from her eyes as she tried to no avail to twist away from him. She tried to bite him, but Ekin only laughed and pulled out of her reach.

"Now now. Thats not very nice, is it?"

"She's being nicer then I am." A strangely rough sounding voice said from the foot of the bed before Relena saw one of the wooden chairs from the small table in the corner come down on Ekin's back.

The blond man let out a grunt of pain before moving quick as lightning and pulling what looked like a gun of some kind out of his front jacket pocket and shooting it.

She'd only been able to catch a glimpse of a chestnut braid before Relena heard the loud pop and snapping sound of a stun gun connecting to its target.

"Oh, Duo!" Ekin had moved off of her in order to pull the weapon from his pocket and so she was now easily able to get out from underneath of him. She dropped to the floor beside the fallen man.

The electrodes were still imbedded in his chest, and with a quick movement she removed them and turned to see if he was conscious. Duo's eyes were partially open, but they rolled up into his skull. "Duo, can you hear me? Duo!" Relena felt for a pulse, and sighed in relief when she felt it beating strongly.

"I suppose this means that our time has come to an end." Ekin's voice came from behind her.

Relena whirled around to see him come down beside her and plant a chaste kiss on her forehead before she could stop him or pull away.

He stood quickly, giving her what he must have supposed to be a dashing smile that only served to make Relena's skin crawl before saying, "Till next time." and heading towards the open balcony doors.

She was torn. Somehow she needed to get help for Duo, and she despritely wanted to sound some kind of alarm to let everyone know that Ekin had been here and to get them after him before he could get away. She didn't feel as though she had time to waste, so she did the only thing she felt she was able to do.

Rising from the floor beside the unconscious Duo, she ran towards her bedroom door, intent on searching for Heero.

OoOo

As soon as Heero pushed the door to Relena's bedroom open, he was almost bowled over.

"Oh thank God your back!" Relena exclaimed, her voice sounding like barely contained panic. "He was here, I told him you'd be back, but he just kept talking and Oh God I thought he was you at first." Her face turned up to his, desperation in her eyes. "I don't know how he got in, that scares me more than anything."

Heero was flabbergasted. "Who was here? When?"

It was like someone had slapped her, the reaction was so severe. As he watched, Relena's eyes filled with tears and they suddenly spilled down her cheeks as she dissolved into sobs.

"I'm sorry!" She hiccuped, as she sobbed. "I don't know whats wrong with me, I'm fine. Nothing happened to me, but Ekin-"

Suddenly understanding Heero gripped her shoulders and helped to support her weight as she sagged against him. "Ekin was here?"

"Yes, he was here." Relena continued to sob out of pure shock. "He didn't hurt me." She said again, seeming to want to make sure he knew, that it was important.

Heero checked her over himself quickly just to be sure. She was fine, not even a bruise from what he could see. He gritted his teeth together as he gathered her against him carefully and made her move far enough with him inside the room so that he could grab the extra blanket that she kept folded at the foot of her bed. Once inside he stopped when his eyes landed on the crumpled form on the floor.

"Duo?" He took another step towards the figure and confirmed that it was indeed the braided pilot he'd charged with guarding Relena. He felt ice in his veins even as Relena started babbling again.

"Ekin knocked him out, I'm not sure how the first time, but the second time he hit him with a stun gun. It happened so fast-" She hiccuped back another sob. "He has a pulse, but he'll probably need medical attention, I was just about to find you."

Heero pulled out his phone in the next minute, pressing in Wufei's number. When the chinese man answered Heero started talking quickly.

"Send a medical team to Relena's room as soon as possible, Ekin has been here. He shot Duo with a stun gun, and I believe that he's probably still on the property, attempting to escape. Point of entry and exit to the building was the balcony in Relena's room." He raised his eyebrows in question towards Relena who managed to nod, confirming his suspicions.

He hung up the phone after a few more words with the Preventer, and turned his attention to Relena again. He managed to wrap the blanket still clutched in his hand around her shoulders and made her sit on the end of the bed. She was still sobbing but it wasn't quite so hysterical anymore.

"I'm going to check on Duo." He placed a hand on her cheek briefly until she nodded her blond head and sniffed.

Going over to the fallen pilot Heero confirmed that Relena had been correct in her assessment. Duo's pulse was strong, and his breathing was hitched, but otherwise normal. He ran his hands over his limbs and found no broken bones, but he did find a few possible bruises that would be sore for a few days. He let out a breath he handn't realized he'd been holding as he sat back on his heels.

"He'll be alright." Heero told Relena, who had been watching him anxiously the whole time he'd been examining the other man.

"I'm glad." She responded, and Heero caught the overwhelming sincerity in her words.

Heero looked at Relena. Her face was tear streaked, and her hair was disheveled, strands standing up around the crown of her head, the rest hung limply around her face. Her eyes were puffy and red, but it was her expression that made him pause in his assessment. She looked disturbed in a way that Heero had never seen her.

He got up suddenly and went towards her, eyes never leaving her face. She watched him as he quickly crossed the distance to the bed and sat down next to her. "What did he do to you?"

She started saying the same thing she'd said when he had come into the room. "Ekin didn't hurt me, I'm fine. Really I am." Her words rang hollow even to his ears.

Taking gentle hold of her shoulders Heero looked down at her intently, firmly. "What did he do to you, Relena?"

The young woman who he knew possessed a core of steel when she needed to, leant on that skill when she answered. "Its nothing as bad as you think. He didn't get the chance. Duo woke up from whatever Ekin had done to knock him out the first time."

He wanted to force her to tell him, he would've shook her shoulders once if Sally and a Preventer medical team hadn't come through the bedroom door, given them one look and then headed strait towards Duo.

Heero and Relena watched as they went through the same motions that Heero had to confirm the well being of the chestnut haired man, before they loaded him carefully onto a stretcher and two of the medical workers proceeded to remove him from the room. One more of the Preventer's medical team remained in the room along with Sally, and she turned to Relena with a bright smile.

"We should take a quick look at you as well Miss Relena, just to make sure your alright." The Preventers voice was high and sweet. It seemed to match her seemingly sunny disposition, and blond curls.

"If you feel like you have to. But I'm fine, I wasn't hurt at all." Relena's voice was tired but polite. "What I would really like to do is just explain what happened, maybe Ekin can be caught." Heero felt her lean towards him, distancing herself from the curly haired Preventer.

Sally caught his eye and he answered her silent question. "I checked her over quickly when I found her, she seems fine physically. Maybe a bruise or two, nothing serious."

The red haired woman nodded and put her hand on the bubbly Preventer's shoulder. "I think MIss Relena will be fine. She'll come and see me tomorrow morning if she needs anything, Right?" Sally flashed a friendly smile towards Relena.

"I will, thank you." Relena looked relieved. She returned the smile briefly and swiped a sleeve across her face to wipe away the tears drying on her cheeks. She tried to laugh at herself. "This is the second time today I've been reduced to this. Its embarrassing."

Heero put his arm around her shoulders as the younger Preventer left the room. Sally continued to stair down at them.

"Everyone has gone to search the grounds and the surrounding area for Ekin. Noin is coming to meet us here." She said simply. "Zechs was more worried about Relena but Noin convinced him that she would look after her. It would be such a relief if we could get our hands on this man."

"Hn." Heero was hardly paying attention to Sally's words, so focused he was on Relena. She seemed small, and huddled into herself even as she leaned against him. He was burning with desire to find out what had happened to her, but he had enough sence to realize that she wouldn't be inclined to talk about it with too many people around, she wouldn't even tell him when they were alone.

"Lets move down to the dinning room." Heero suggested quickly, realizing perhaps slowly that it might be best to get Relena out of the scene of the attack. "The others can meet us there later if there is news."

"That would be a good idea." Noin answered from the doorway. "Miss Relena looks as though she could use a cup of tea."

At the sound of her sister in law's voice, Relena perked up slightly, and nodded. "Yes, that sounds wonderful." Her voice was tired and drawn, but she was trying to be reasonable.

Heero stood up then and took her by the hand, lifting her off the bed. "Lets go."

""


End file.
